Hyper Dimension Neptunia: Ace of Spades
by WretchedSpectre
Summary: How to explain this...? I nearly died when going to a cosplay event with my friend and was pulled into Hyper Dimension Neptunia because of my author. Now I'm going on quests and adventures, hopefully getting into relationships (What? A guy has gotta have priorities) oh and I know you are readers. Yeah I break the fourth wall with Neptune, now if you'll excuse me. Adventure awaits!
1. Chapter 1

Closing the lid on my laptop I sighed with relief. I had just finished uploading the next chapter on my story and just in time to as I could hear someone knocking on my door.

"Oi Thomas come on we have to go now if we want to reach this cosplay event on time!" I could hear the familiar voice of my friend Ethan Smith shout from outside.

"Yeah Yeah let me get into my suit!" I shouted back, sliding off the side of my bed and moving over to where it hung. With help from Ethan and my other friend Oliver Dunn we made the Arctic survival suit from Dead Space 3, we even got a few LED's and coloured glass for the visor slices. All in all it looked a hell of a lot like the game version. Only difference being the small emblem I have put on the shoulder; it was a references to the group in Metal Gear Solid, FOXHOUND. On a cool side note I'm part of a clan called FOXHOUND.

But how could I hardly forget I haven't introduced myself yet! My name is Thomas Fletcher, some know me as Wretched Spectre. A writer on and a gamer. I'm not too tall, only 5ft 12in and while I have broad shoulders I'm not in perfect shape but I'm getting there. Slowly.

As I pulled the helmet onto my head I could not help but smirk, I liked keeping my hair short as it stops it from being caught on things and so putting this helmet on was easy.

Now to address why I am talking to you, yes you not that girl behind you or the man who lives next to you. I am what some people might call insane, not to the point when I'm sectioned in an insane asylum but enough that I think that I'm in a story being written by a guy with the same name as me as he has no idea how to come up with new and interesting names. Depressing comment about myself can be ticked off for the day.

Reaching over to my wrist I pressed a few button and the LED's in the helmet lit up casting a blue hue over my messy apartment. Kicking a few clothes into a corner I was ready to go. Striding over to the door I opened it.

"Well you look ready" Ethan commented leaning against the opposite wall. While I was going in my arctic survival suit Ethan was Dante from Devil May Cry, no not that bad one, Devil May Cry 4. We even made him replica's of Ebony and Ivory.

"I'm always ready" I chuckled noticing a box covered in wrapping paper beside him. "What's that?"

"Open it and find out" He replied mysteriously, wiggling his fingers like he was trying to be a ghost.

Shrugging and picking up the box I slowly pulled the wrapping off the box revealing... a brown cardboard box, looking at him he motioned for me to continue. So I obliged and was greeted with a beautiful sight.

"Is this..." I trailed off picking the object out of the box

"Yup, a replica of a pulse rifle in Dead Space" He chuckled "Thought you should have one too if I'm going to have replica of Dante's weapons"

The weight on it was, while heavy, felt perfect. Holding the trigger down I could not stop a small cackle of delight as the barrels actually span around.

"Dude where did you get this!?" I exclaimed, shouldering the rifle and facing Ethan

"A friend of mine does this kind of thing daily so I asked for a favor and he accepted" Ethan smiled before pushing me down the hall "Now come on we have a cosplay event to get to!"

Nodding I started running down the hall, Ethan hot on my heels when something felt wrong. A sudden screeching sound rang out and the floor below me felt light all of a sudden. I managed to turn and push Ethan backwards before it collapsed under me, I could faintly hear him shouting my name but I knew it was futile. I lived pretty high up so I won't have a snow ball's chance in hell to survive this. I could already see the title in the news paper "Part of apartment block falls, many missing and dead"

I failed to see the portal open up under me as I fell, taking both me and a load of rubble with it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay just what the fuck?" I exclaimed looking around as my vision came back to me.

Everything was had a purple hue to it as it felt like I was falling continuously, some waves kept flying past me as I looked around, rubble was just spinning an- Oh look someone's laptop!

"So my first obstacle, how do I get to that laptop..." I mused, tapping my head, finding that I still had all my cosplay gear on. "Yo Author help me out here!"

'Wait what?' A voice came from my head 'You're speaking?'

"Ah ha!" I shouted in triumphed "I knew I was not insane!"

'Well this is... unexpected' The Author mused

"So where am I?" I asked, attempting to swim in the air to get to the laptop.

'Well you are in a portal between worlds currently' The Author replied 'Let me help you with that'

I felt something push me along till I reached the laptop, opening the lid I must of been lucky as the owner never put a password on it. That or the Author decided to give me a laptop.

"Well wherever I'm going with you helping me along I'll easily be able to survive" I said out loud going through the files this person had on their laptop, a lot of games so I'll be entertained.

'No can do mini me' the Author replied 'I can only influence this here, I'm an author not a god'

"Screw you, I would so mess with reality" I replied, looking around and finding a small bag floating close by, looked like something the scout from Team Fortress two had "Could you pass me that bag?"

'Sure' The bag started floating my way so when it was close enough I grabbed it and slung it over my shoulder. 'Do you want your prop gun too?'

"Hell yeah might as well look intimidating and badass wherever I arrive"

'Good answer' Suddenly my pulse rifle came hurtling from behind a rock, hitting my head with a soft _Thunk_

"Oi you git you couldn't pass it to me slowly?" Rubbing my head, I picked the rifle out of the air and with a few quick movements managed to push my new laptop, totally not stolen, into the bag and attach the rifle onto my back. Guess Ethan had planned to get me that rifle so made sure the armour could attach it to my back. Smart git.

"That reminds me, is Ethan ok?" I shouted into the abyss

'Yeah don't worry he's perfectly fine' The Author replied 'You pushed him out of the way and he got out of the building before the rest collapsed.

"Well that's good" I replied "Now my final two questions, Where am I going and how much longer till I get there?"

'Can't answer the first one, it is a secret and for the second question' The Author trailed off as suddenly a hole appeared below me and spat me, and all the rubble, into the sky above a massive city 'You're here, enjoy the fall!'

"Oh you cunt!" I managed to shout before I started gaining speed. I am not ashamed to admit I started screaming like a little girl.

'Oh you'll be fine, your rescue is already coming' The Author chastised me

"Was this part of your plan you bitch!?" I shrieked in reply, spinning around until I was able to straighten out and slow my fall, only slightly though.

'Not exactly' He replied 'Here is some lovely in-flight music as you fall'

[ **Ace of spades by Motor head starts playing]**

"I both love and hate you now!" I let out a crazy laugh before noticing that unlike the origins group that this exact same thing happens to in Gorod Krovi I did not have a parachute to pull and slow my fall. So the screaming started again.

Suddenly a ton of bodies flitted by me, one passing close enough that I A) smelled perfume and B) the force twisted me around and got to see as those bodies dart between all of the rubble, destroying them with a mix of lasers and other various weapons.

"Why do they look so familiar...?" I wondered out loud as one of them started darting towards me.

'You'll find out in a few seconds' The Author spoke up when the body stopped in front of me, holding a sword.

The body was a girl, her white hair and light skin was a stark contrast to the body suit she wore, her eyes were a bright blue with power symbols in them... wait what?

"Noir!?" I managed to say as she started bringing her sword down towards me, quickly twisting out of the way I angled myself to move away from her as I continued to fall.

"A person!?" She exclaimed as more bodies started darting towards us, from what I could see they were the rest of the girls, Vert, Neptune, Blanc and... Oh shit Plutia. All transformed... I need to fall faster so Iris heart does not get me, my buttocks demand me to do so.

Angling myself downwards I felt like a bullet, the wind screaming past my ears as I went down.

"What are you suicidal!?" I heard Noire shout from my right , looking to my right I could see the CPU falling beside me.

"Iris Heart is back there and I don't want an adult like her helping me" I shouted back, looking behind me only to squeak in shock to see that Iris was literally on my heels and catching up with me.

"That's not nice. You need to be punished for that boy~" I heard her shout back, the tone on her voice telling me that rated M content awaited me if she caught me and I'm trying to keep this as a rated T story.

"GO FASTER GRAVITY!" I shouted, trying to fall faster, the buildings rushing up to meet me.

"Someone catch him god dammit!" Blanc shouted from behind which resulted in both Noire and Plutia grabbing me at the same time as the floor rushed up to meet us.

Now imagine a sound of an explosion, that was about the same sound which rang out when we hit the floor.

"Ow..." I rubbed my head "What did I land on?"

Looking up I could see a flushed face; it was Noire's. I think I know where I have landed. Author, my dear friend, I owe you a drink.

"Now I know this must look bad but I promise you this is not my fault" I began, trying to find a decent explanation before she slapped the bitch out of me "The Author, beautiful bastard he is, made us land like this"

Trying to get up I felt something weigh me down, did I mention my arms were on either side of Noire so this looks like the start of some hentai? "Author if who I think is the one pushing me down with her chest and rest of her body I owe you two drinks now"

"And who is this person you think is on your back hmm?" A honey coated voice purred into my ear.

"The woman with the big uh 'assets' and dominating personality" I replied "Could you get off?"

"No. We are gonna have to ask you a few questions anyway so I want to stay like this until we are ready to question you"

"God dammit Plutia" I muttered, looking back at the still flushed Noire "I promise I am not going to do anything as much as my dignity as a man is telling me to make a move on you"

"That does not say anything about me though~" I heard Plutia purr in my ear

"Help me, I need an adult!" I shouted, trying to plead to any of the other CPU's to get her off me.

"Right get off now" I heard Blanc say and suddenly the weight on my back disappearing and I was picked up by Blanc.

There was a pause as Noire got up, brushing herself off and Plutia whined about Blanc ruining her fun all the time.

"Right who are you?" Vert asked, crossing her arms pushing up her already impressive assets

"Uh boobs, I mean Thomas Fletcher" I stumbled past my words trying not to stare too much. What I'm a guy you would stare if you were here too. Some girls would too.

Neptune chuckled slightly before turning serious "We should continue this back at the Basilacom, our day of hanging out just turned interesting"

"Can I throw him there?" I heard Blanc ask, a murderous aura emanating from her. Oh yeah she's flat...

"No we need to ask him question while he still can talk not when he is broken" Neptune chastised her before taking off towards the Basilacom.

"Plutia catch" Blanc said tossing me like I was a small ball into the waiting arms of Plutia.

"Oh how sweet, is it Christmas today?" she purred

"Something like that, make sure he can still speak by the time we get to the Basilacom" Blanc replied, flying after Neptune. Vert and Noire following behind her.

There was a pause before I turned my face to look at Plutia's, she had a... happy look on her face.

"So what was that about needing an adult?" She grinned like how a predator does when it has cornered its prey.

"TIME SKIP AUTHOR NOW!" I shouted.

-Fine you're no fun. Five minutes later at the Basilacom-

"Aw boo we are here now" Plutia complained, putting me down on small roof

"I need brain bleach..." I muttered, wandering forward before another pair of arms grabbed me, holding me in place.

"Not yet, we need to ask you some questions" Neptune stopped me from wandering off.

"Crap..." I looked away for a moment. "Do I have to?"

"Yes or we are going to give you back to Plutia" Noire growled which was followed by the sound of a whip cracking the air.

"Yup, cool what do you want to know?" Standing straight I gave them a sharp salute, I'd rather answer questions than play 'Justice' with a dominatrix again.

They looked a bit shocked at the salute but took it in their stride.

"Where are you from? You came from a portal but it looked unstable" Neptune asked

"Well I'm from Earth, the author stopped me from dying in an apartment block collapse by opening a portal thingy, then that is about it"

"The Author? You can break the fourth wall too?" Neptune took a step back, shock covering her face while everyone else just looked confused.

"Yeah" I replied back "It's good to meet you Neptune, least you know my troubles with a shitty author"

'Hey!' I heard the Author shout indignantly

"So you seem to know all of us, how is that?" Blanc asked slowly, the aggressive stance she held before had lessened somewhat.

"You girls have been in stories, games, anime and even as figurines" I replied with a soft laugh "I'm writing a story based on you girls"

"Oooh" Neptune was slowly going back to her excitable self without knowing it.

"Right I'm going to take control of this conversation before you two give me a migraine anymore" Noire spoke up walking around me slowly. "What armour is this? I have never seen it before"

"Oh it is not armour" I replied, scratching the back of my head with a laugh "It's from another game called 'Dead Space 3' I am cosplaying"

"You are what!?" Noire suddenly exclaimed

"What?" I replied, I tried to face her but she tapped the side of my helmet to get me to face the front.

"If this is cosplaying then you must be from a very advanced world" She muttered, I picked up on the jealousy in her voice but I decided against bringing it up.

"Not really, compared to around here we are like apes" I chuckled.

"You mentioned you are writing a book?" Blanc spoke up, her eyes showed curiosity.

"Yeah it's coming to the end" I replied, "It's not too good but I was going to leave it up to the people who read it if they wanted a sequel from it"

"You post it online?" Blanc asked, her head cocked to one side.

"Yeah it is only fan fiction so I'm not getting paid for it" I replied, almost feeling the author sigh at the fact he doesn't get paid to write.

"Okay that is cool" The neutrality of her voice was so weird but after what has happened today I'm not going to question it.

"Well how about we move inside? If he already knows us then we should not need to worry about keeping these forms up" Vert spoke up, I'm surprised that she has been so quiet this entire time.

"Yeah I'm getting too tired" I heard Plutia speak up before something small collided into me from behind. "Carry me please?"

Sighing I crouched down and letting Plutia clamber onto my back, she must of transformed back with how her speech had become drawn out and cute, not predatory and dominating.

"Well shall we go?" I asked, holding Plutia's legs gently so she did not have to worry about falling off my shoulders.

As we moved in I could not help but let my mind ask the most important question. Which one of these girls is the cutest?


	3. Chapter 3

Soon after we had entered the Basilacom the girls had transformed back to their usual selves and now we sat on varying bean bags and chairs in a small circle, you can already guess who was sitting in the middle. If you said anyone beside me then you my friend do not deserve a cookie. Everyone else go get a cookie. Got it? Good let us continue.

"So... What now?" I asked, looking around feeling like they are all assessing me.

"Well first you should at least take off your helmet if you can" Blanc spoke up, the voice of logic speaking once again. "Histoire and the others are going to be back soon as they more than likely saw what happened when you appeared"

"Aw boo and ruin the surprise about how ugly I am?" I joked but it looked like it fell on deaf ears. "Jeez tough crowd"

Reaching behind my head I twisted a small switch thingy which loosed parts of the helmet allowing me to slip it off my head easily, the LED's turning off as I twisted the switch.

Feeling the cold air on my skin made me wince for a second before I relaxed, placing the helmet in front of me I looked up to see all the girls had quickly moved to sit together in front of me.

"See? I'm not some model" I spoke up, pointing at my face "Nothing special here"

There was a brief pause as they all leaned forward slightly, staring at me.

"Okay now this is creepy" I muttered "Why don't you have a look at my helmet instead?" Picking it up I held it out to them, Noire being the first to grab it and start examining it.

"You look a lot different compared to all the guys living here" Vert spoke up

"That is probably because I'm not from around here" I replied as I heard a elevator ding "Quick pass my helmet!"

Noire handed it back to me confused and I quickly put it back onto my head, twisting the switch to tighten it and turn on the LED's as Histoire and the CPU candidates came around the corner.

"Ooh space man!" I heard Ram shout out

"Awesome space man" Rom agreed in her usual innocent tone of voice.

Nepgear was not speaking but I can safely assume she busy freaking out over technology or something.

"So which one of you wants to explain who this man is?" Histoire asked, floating round to be beside the other girls, the CPU candidates following behind her quickly.

"Well this is Thomas Fletcher" Neptune answered "He is a fellow fourth wall breaker"

"And a writer" Blanc spoke up

"And he is cosplaying in that armour" Noire spoke up.

"He looks like a gamer" Vert followed on, not wanting to stay silent again.

"And you all trust him that much?" Histoire asked sceptically "He has got a weapon on his back"

They all froze apparently only just noticing the rifle, I needed to defuse this situation before someone gets the wrong idea.

"Oh no no it is just a prop" I answered quickly, pulling it off slowly "Have a loo-" Before I finished Nepgear had grabbed it and was already fiddling with it.

"Never mind wait till Nepgear is finished then look at it" I finished.

"Well why don't you take off your cosplay gear and we can talk a little less formally?" Histoire suggested.

"I can't really" I responded looking away, I had a helmet on but I couldn't stop the blush from rising to my face.

"Why not?" Blanc asked cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah we want to see the Space man under his armour!" Ram agreed furiously

"Yeah see the space man!" Rom echoed her agreement.

Looking back I could see that Noire knew exactly why I said no as her face became flushed again.

"I'm wearing a body suit under this so it would not exactly be a good idea to get out of this" I answered hanging my head.

"What is a body suit?" Neptune asked and everyone looked just as confused as she was except for Noire, Uni, Nepgear and Histoire.

"Uh really tight clothing, like spandex but it covers the body" Noire put it gently "When you have gone HDD you are wearing a body suit"

"Oh..." Neptune replied before her face became slightly flushed "Right keep it on!"

All of them except Rom and Ram nodded furiously, those two were just confused but Blanc promised to explain later.

"You can take your helmet off though" Vert spoke up

"Yeah do that then!" Ram spoke up again, sitting up and glaring at me as if daring me to disagree with her.

"Yeah let's see your face again!" Plutia spoke up, she looked half asleep which she does all the time now that I think about it.

"I guess I should at least do that" I muttered

"Yeah do it!" Ram responded with her usual level of aggression.

"Do it! Do it!" Rom chanted again, I swear to god Rom is so freaking innocent and cute.

As I reached up I could see all the girls lean forward again, even Nepgear stopped pulling my prop gun apart to watch. Twisting the switch again the LED's turned off resulting in an gasp from the CPU candidates. Pulling the helmet off my head instead of the silent treatment there was a low "Oooh" from everyone.

"He looks cute" Ram said bluntly which resulted in everyone telling her to be quiet. "What I'm just saying what is on your minds"

"Anyway!" Neptune interrupted "We should get you some clothes or something, Nep junior probably wants to look at that entire cosplay kit you've done and so does lonely heart here"

"L Lonely heart!?" Noire sputtered as we all got up

"Well it is true, especially if you plan on working for the guild or something you are going to want armour and weapons" Nepgear spoke up, reassembling the prop gun again "I could make a copy of these when they work but I'd need your help"

"I'd be up for that. Better than sitting around doing nothing" I responded.

"So you plan on staying in Planeptune?" Noire spoke up sounding slightly saddened

"Actually he can't really" Histoire spoke up "Our guest rooms are currently under construction after one of Nepgears experiments ran free, we only have one free and that one is going to be used by Plutia"

"That was an accident!" Nepgear whined

"Still destroyed our guest rooms" Histoire reminded her. "He will have to find another place to stay"

"Noire do you have a place for me to stay?" I turned to Noire which made her flinch but a small smile on her lips

"Yes Lastation Basilacom has many guest rooms" She almost whispered, pushing her two fingers together. I think we found a new contender for being the cutest. Also wait did I juts break Noire's tsundere side?

"It's not like I want you to stay round my nation anyway" She spoke up, looking away so her pigtails whipped around.

Never fucking mind she is still just as tsundere as normal.

"Well I guess if you do not mind I'll stay round yours" I responded, taking my helmet back and putting it into the bag on my back. This bag is like magic or something because I can't even feel the helmet in there. I do not want to be the one to question pocket dimensions as that'll probably end horribly.

"Well when we have your clothes could you leave this cosplay kit with me? I'm going to need it if we want to make your armour" Nepgear spoke as we piled into the elevator

'Psst check your bag' I heard the Author whisper, also noting how Neptune twitched slightly as the Author spoke.

Moving it in front of me I reached inside and found what looks like a data pad in there, taking it out I tapped the screen and it turned on showing different files all saying "Blueprints" at the end. Author you sneaky bugger.

"Would this help instead?" handing the pad to Nepgear she looked through it before a small squeal came from her as she hugged the pad.

"Yes! This has so many designs not just the armour but other things!" She replied, almost jumping in glee "When we are free we should go through this together and choose what next to make!"

"Right gotcha calm down" I tried but she was barely listening so Blanc tapped her on the head and she came back to this world.

"Today is going to be a fun day" I muttered as the doors opened revealing a small crowd facing the doors, all making various noises when they saw us. Probably due to the guy in armour walking with the girls.

"A really fun day" The sarcasm could not be any heavier.


	4. Chapter 4

Getting out of the Basilacom was interesting to stay at the least. At first we just tried walking and the response was slow and sluggish. So Blanc thought it would be a great idea to pick me up and use me as a battering ram after I made a comment on how this crowd is moving at the same speed as Blanc is growing.

"That's for making a joke like that" She almost growled in my ear when we got outside.

"Yeah I guessed that" I retorted rubbing the top of my head, more than once we made contact with someone's stomach to their dismay.

"Well now that we are out of there shall we go?" Vert asked, laying a hand on Blanc's shoulder to stop a possibly violent retort from her. I don't back down easily woman.

"Fiine" I responded before leaning over so I was her height "This is not over short stuff"

"Anytime cloud head" She retorted. Childish I know but small arguments will always crop up between people.

Walking down the street I could clearly see another thing that stood out between me and like everyone else here. I am pretty sure I am the only person with darkish skin. Now don't get me wrong and start screaming that I or the author are racist for bringing that up but it is pretty obvious. Also I am not like my mother who is Jamaican so she is really dark skinned, my dad is English so I'm a nice mix. In other words I'm brown.

"So what kind of clothing do you like?" Noir asked, its funny as everyone beside Vert has to walk just a bit quicker to keep up with my walking speed, I have long legs and they are just fabulous.

"Dark clothing, not too edgy not to bright." I responded, attempting to slow down to allow the girls to keep up easily. "Bit like Aiden Pierce from Watch dogs"

"Watch dogs?" Noire asked

"Er crap it is a game from my world" I responded "He wears a dark brown trench coat with a gray jumper under it"

"So you would wear the exact same as him?" I heard Vert speak up from my left

"No I would make keep the top clothing he wears the same, the same mask and hat but I would change the trousers to black cargo trousers" I responded "Why are we all following me? I have no idea where we are going?"

This made the group stop and look at each other confused.

"Were you all following me just because I was in front of the group?" I could not help but face palm at this

"Well yeah you move so fast so it is hard to not follow behind you" Neptune spoke up "Look at poor Plutia!"

True enough Plutia looked completely knackered compared to everyone else, I guess she is not used to moving around too quickly when not transformed.

"Need a hand there?" I asked her, crouching down slightly. I felt guilty alright?

"Yeah carry me again?" Plutia looked up hopefully holding her arms out.

"Sure climb on Plutia" Doing the same as before she climbed onto my shoulders and suddenly brightened up

"She was so faking that wasn't she?" I hung my head slightly feeling like I had been tripped.

"Oh yeah" Blanc snickered behind her hand when Rom and Ram both grabbed her

"That is not fair carry us too!" Ram almost shouted in protest

"Carry us too" Rom whined.

"I can't carry both of you" Blanc tried but they still attempted to climb onto her when Vert came to her assistance.

"Rom how about I carry you and your Blanc carries your sister?" I heard her ask but I was busy trying to stop Plutia rubbing my head.

"But it feels nice! Like Velcro!" She whined still rubbing my head

"Yeah but you are giving me a migraine!" I retorted

"Well back onto the subject of clothing" Noire coughed to gain everyone's attention "We do have a clothing shop in Lastation that allows you to request specific clothing like you asked"

"Noire are you trying to get alone time with Tom?" Neptune asked her bluntly which resulted in everyone laughing at both of our expense

"N No! I'm just saying that my city can help us!" She whined and tried to look away like she wasn't interested but her tsundere side was bleeding through again.

"Well I still need to get some weapons while I wait for my rifle and after" I commented in my attempt to save Noire from more embarrassment "So we can all go to Lastation tomorrow or something"

"Do you mean next chapter?" Neptune spoke up again

"Shush you" Flicking Neptune's nose.

"Well I know the way to the closest weapon shop around here" Neptune stated after rubbing her nose slightly "Lets go!"

She started off in an attempt to lead the group but I grabbed the edge of her jacket.

"Hold up I have no money so I can't buy anything" I said which made her freeze and everyone face palm

"Well maybe I can work out a sweet deal where-" Neptune started before I cut in

"Don't even finish that idea Neptune, anyway I'm sure something will pop up where I can get enough money to buy some weapons" I sighed "So until then lets keep walking, the Author needs to come up with ideas anyway"

Suddenly a figure broke through the window of a shop and started running down the street hefting what looked like a cash register under her arms, a floating mouse following behind her.

"Well would you look at that the Author can think of ideas to breach plot holes quickly" I commented before letting Plutia down "I'll chase after those two you girls should check on the shop, who knows what damage they have done to a candy shop"

Just as they started to protest I started sprinting after the two, sure they were fast but running was my element and it did not take long until I caught up with the two of them. Oh look it is Underling and Warechu. Who would of guessed?

"Stop criminal! You have violated the law of this place" I shouted, by now I had put my helmet so as they turned they froze up for a second.

"W we are not afraid of you chu!" The rat... mouse... thing squeaked, flapping its little wings indignantly,

"Y Yeah you are not going to stop us runt" Underling shouted but she already looked defeated.

"Girl I am taller than you!" I retorted getting into a fighting stance "Lets go then"

"You'll regret that" She spat pulling out a iron pipe while her partner in crime just continued floating there.

"Make me" I could not help but get the last word in. Call it protagonist rights.

With a roar she ran at me swinging her pipe in frenzied patterns making it difficult to get a hit in myself, I did not want to risk blocking one of her swings as even if this cosplay armour is tough I did not want to risk breaking it.

"Ha! What are you too weak to fight back?" She cawed as her partner started darting around trying to hit me too.

"Nope" I replied, popping the 'p' "I was just stretching my legs"

As she started another swing I moved forward stopping her from swinging. Moving my hand behind her head I used both my weight, power and a kick to her shins to flip her over onto her back.

As her partner came flying down for another dive bomb I just slapped the bitch out of him, causing him to go flying into a wall, a red palm imprinted on his face. Grabbing his tail I held him up to my face so he got a good look at the visor.

"W what are you chu!?" He almost shrieked

"What am I? Now that is mean, I'm a person" I calmly replied before stretching his tail like a slingshot "A normal person with a sadistic personality"

Letting go of his tail I watched him go flying away with a squeak when I looked down at Underling.

"You should probably run Linda, Plutia will be here soon and you don't want to meet Iris Heart again do ya?" I said calmly, walking towards the till and picking it up I started walking out of the alley way when I heard her scrambling to her feet and running after her partner.

-One long walk later-

"Thanks for the time skip Author" I said aloud, must of looked crazy to some people but I did not care.

'No problem' He replied before disappearing again

"Thomas you're back!" Neptune shouted gaining everyone's attention

They all crowded around me as we entered the shop

"How did you beat both of them? You have no magic!" Neptune asked

"It was a two on one battle so you were at a disadvantage, I am curious how you beat them too" Blanc spoke up

"Well" I paused as I put the till back onto the desk "I have had some lessons in CQC in my world, that and I play a lot of fighting games cuz combat is just in my blood"

"You beat them with martial arts?" Vert looked surprised.

"No not martial arts" I replied, leaning against the desk "CQC, hand to hand combat. I just flipped Linda and slapped Warechu"

"You flipped someone" Neptune's eyes were sparkling at the thought of it. In her head I think she's imagining me doing some professional wrestling moves or something

"Who is Linda?" Noire asked confused,

"That is Underling's name" I replied which gained a shocked gasp from Neptune

"She has a name!" She exclaimed

There was an audible _Slap!_ as I face palmed. God dammit Neptune.

"Well I think you should accept the reward money from stopping the crime" Vert pointed out a small window that had popped up that I missed.

"Oh crap yeah I should" Pressing the green tick a small pile of green notes materialized in my hands "Well this is a lot"

"If you have not noticed this is a pretty high end shop" Noire waved her hand around pointing out all the suits and dresses. I probably should of noticed them when I got in but I was busy getting pestered by the girls.

"Well whatever" I shrugged gently pouring the cash into my bag "Shall we go to that weapon shop now?"

"Yeah lets, especially if we want to get to Lastation before nightfall and get enough sleep in preparation for tomorrow" Uni spoke up, so far she had been rather silent, probably because she is like her sister. Shy and tsundere.

"Well as we have come to a group decision lets go" I responded but instead of leading the way I let the girls go first and show me where to go. I have eventually gotten a hold on slowing myself down so others can keep up and lead.

-10 minutes of boring walking and talking later-

"We are here!" Neptune almost shouted flinging her arms to the side to indicate towards the shop we needed.

"Eventually, it even took a time skip from the Author" I muttered, following the girls into the shop "So why are you girls in here?"

"When we are not transformed we use weapons like everyone else" Blanc spoke up from the hammer section "So we make sure to buy new weapons when we can"

"Oh fair enough" I replied going up to the guy behind the till. "Hey man do you have small sharp blades?"

"Of course sir just down that aisle" He replied pointing to a aisle closer to the back of the shop.

"Thanks" Walking down the aisle I was stuck. So many knives to choose from... If you could not guess I really like knives, daggers and anything of the sort.

"Why are you down here?" Noire asked poking her head around the corner "You are wearing armour like that shouldn't pick a heavy weapon like Blanc?"

"With CQC? Hell no, heavy weapons like that are too slow and clumsy to use with how I fight" I replied, taking a small knife of the wall and testing it before putting it back. "Too light like this and I might throw it without meaning too"

"So what is this CQC fighting style you have?" Noire asked trying not to sound too interested but it was pretty obvious that she was.

"It involves fast strikes and grapples; I also throw in, pun intended, a few exotic fighting styles to catch people unaware" Reaching up I picked out a kunai and was struck with an idea. Checking the price quickly I grabbed another one before hurrying towards the desk to pay for them.

"What's the hurry?" Noire asked following behind me.

"I have just had an idea for something awesome and useful at the same time" I replied, paying for the Kunai and holsters to go with them. "Hey Neptune?"

"Yeah?" Neptune's purple head poked around the corner of a aisle of swords of various lengths. No get you head out of the gutter.

"Do you know where I can buy a chain?" I asked, almost hopping from foot to foot in excitement.

There was a sudden flash from outside and I felt a hand on my shoulder, my blood grew cold as I recognized the gloves.

"Chains hmm? Follow me and I'll help you with that" A now transformed Iris Heart slowly pulled me away from the shop.

"Neptune help? Please?" I managed to call. But no one came as no one wanted to get between Iris Heart and what she wants.

"Just me and you now~" Iris whispered in my ear as she continued to drag me towards her goal

"This better not turn into a M rated scene, this story is rated T for a reason!" I tried to escape but it was pointless, her grip was like iron.

"You'll be fine" She chuckled as she span me around for to see the shop she wanted to show me.

It was... not a BDSM shop actually. There were various bits and pieces of building equipment along with chains ranging from crane sized to the sizes I needed.

"Oh I'm actually shocked" I tried to walk forward but Iris still had not let go of me.

"Now I must claim my reward for helping you" She whispered before I felt my helmet get pulled off, in hindsight I should not have showed everyone how to undo my helmet, and I felt something wet on my cheek.

To say my blood froze up while my brain did flip flops would be accurate.

"Keep being cute like that and I'll have to do it again" She whispered before pushing me into the shop "Now go get those chains you wanted"

Trying not to blush too much I picked up the appropriate chain and went to the till.

"I would like to buy this ma'am" I mumbled looking at the floor with great interest.

"Of course" She thankfully kept her voice neutral as she obviously saw what happened just then and who brought me.

Taking the chain I walked outside only to be greeted by Plutia, not Iris Heart.

"Ready to go back?" She smiled sweetly, a cute face hiding a scary secret.

"Yeah lets go" I replied.

'You are not going to question why I started calling the transformed versions of the CPU's by their actual names?' The Author asked confused.

"I assume it's something to do with you finally deciding to do that?" I thought replied him, didn't want to sound too crazy now right?

"Well when you first saw them you called them by their original names and so I stayed with that til now. Now they are going back to their normal names when they are transformed e.g. Iris Heart" He replied.

"Well that clears up some of the confusion" I thought replied.

Arriving back with the group I got a few odd looks from the groups, probably due to that I still had my sanity and wasn't being pulled along by the chain I wanted to buy.

"Well we should probably head home now" Noire pointed out to break the awkward silence.

"Yeah especially if we all want to get back before nightfall" Uni pointed out.

"Sounds good" I commented, hefting the chain over my shoulder, it was not too heavy but I might need both hands. "Looks like you were wrong about the next chapter being about buying clothing Neptune"

Neptune just grumbles something and looks away.

"Safe travels!" Nepgear calls out as me, Noire and Uni start leaving the shopping centre.

"Talk to you soon" Plutia called out waving slowly.

"So how did you survive Iris?" Noire asked

"I'll tell you when we are out of the city, I don't want to risk her hearing us" I replied.


	5. Chapter 5

"You're seriously telling me that she did not try anything at all?" Noire exclaimed,

"Not a thing. Just implied a lot of things" I replied feeling like a war veteran considering that I didn't come back traumatized from Iris.

"What things?" Uni asked, looking up from her hand held which I'm pretty sure is a Play Station Portable.

"Something someone as young as you should not worry about" I gently patted her head so I did not ruffle her hair too much. "Say Noire do you know anyone who can help me with welding pieces of metal together?"

"Why?" Noire raised an eyebrow as we continued down the road towards Lastation, the sun slowly setting over green hills.

Bringing out one of my Kunai I put it against one end of the chain "If I get this welded onto the end of the chain I can launch the it towards a target and then pull it and the target towards me, therefore allowing me to fight them in my element"

"Wow that is ingenious, though you would have to be pretty strong to get that through someone" She mused.

"That's why if I can get something that will launch it I won't need to worry about throwing it, I've just got to edit the Kunai slightly so after it comes into contact with something it'll releases small hooks, that way it'll stay connected until I remove it myself." I continued, miming pulling the Kunai out of something.

"That sounds like you got that from a game" Uni spoke up again, this time the PSP was in one of her pockets "I can help you weld it together right now if you want"

"You can? That's great!" I replied before something dawned on me "Wait why do you have welding equipment on you?"

Uni just coughed and looked away embarrassed "I was going to help Nepgear fix some stuff today and her welding kit was destroyed by her last robot on its rampage"

Shrugging I placed the Kunai and chain on a rock with part of the chain on part of the handle, looking away as Uni went to work I managed to catch a glimpse of someone behind another rock.

"Ooh foreshadowing" I whispered before sitting against a rock "How long until we will get to Lastation?"

"About a few minutes, would be quicker if we just flew" Noire huffed

"I have enough of falling for today thank you" I flicked the back of her head lightly.

"Done" Uni spoke up "Just don't touch it yet because it needs to cool"

"Sweet thanks Uni" Turning I examined the work, she had welded it on perfectly on the hilt without sacrificing too much of the length of the chain "Expert work Uni, how'd you get so good?"

"Working with Nepgear" Uni mumbled

"Anyway is there any way to cool this quicker? We need to move quickly" Noire complained,

"Noire darling you can't. Rush. Art" I tapped the side of her head but I got to admit this was going to take a while "Anyone know how to do a rain dance?"

"A... What?" Noire asked, cocking her head to the side

"A rain dance" I replied "You know tribal dance and stuff?"

"I have no idea what you are on about" Noire shook her head.

"Neither do I" Uni agreed

"Both of you need to get your heads out of the game more" I joked sitting on a rock close by, looking up at the sky as the sun set over the valley.

"So you got here by dying in your world?" Noire spoke up, looking over I could see that she was sitting on a similar rock close by, Uni beside her.

"In a sense yes" I replied, miming a gun against my head "If that portal hadn't opened I would be crushed under a load of rubble"

"That's horrible" Uni mumbled

"Ah I'm happy though, if that hadn't happened I would not be here" Leaning back against the rock I looked up into the sky as the sun continued to sluggishly crawl across the sky. "Though tomorrow is going to be hectic"

"Why is that?" Noire asked "I know Neptune is a hand full but you seem to be able to handle her"

"Because I am a terrible fan boy. So I won't know who to look like the most from my dimension" I could not help but laugh. That's me to a point, unable to decide on who I want to look like the most.

"Why don't you just buy some clothing and be yourself?" Noire asked

"Being myself is boring" I replied "And anyway I have no fashion sense what so ever"

"So why not just take the image of some people and combine them together to make your own image?" Noire spoke up,

It was like the answer to life itself had appeared in my mind, suddenly I shot up and pulled the laptop out of my bag.

"Noire I could kiss you right now!" I shouted as I quickly looked through the pictures of on the laptop before settling on the one mercenary I always wanted to cosplay as. "If you were currently single and wanted to of course"

"W Who said I was in a relationship?" Noire sputtered, her cheeks turning into two miniature red suns

"Oh forgive me I thought you and Neptune were finally going to get serious" I joked before turning the laptop screen around to show the picture to Noire and Uni "I'm thinking this guy but with the trench coat"

"Sounds good but who is he? " Noire asked, cocking her head to the side in that cute way these girls always did. "He looks cool but does not seem like a hero"

"Being a hero is boring. He is a mercenary called Deadshot" I replied, placing the laptop on the ground "By using that template and using one of those wrist guns as a launcher for my chain kunai I can easily incorporate my style of fighting and weaponry"

"Deadshot huh?" Uni looked over to me raising an eyebrow "He uses firearms?"

"Yup why?" I released a sigh thinking that I should of just cosplayed him in the first place

"Have you even fired a firearm before?" Uni responded a smug tone in her voice "You look like you have never touched one in your life"

"While I may not just carry a light machine gun around like you Uni I have fired enough firearms to know my way around them" I retorted

"Enough, we don't need a fight breaking out between you" Noire got in between us "Uni has Thomas's weapon cooled off enough that it can be moved around yet?"

With a sigh of exasperation Uni pulled a small bottle of a clear liquid from out of the small pack she carried the welding equipment in and poured it on the point between the kunai and chain, resulting in a sharp hissing sound as steam billowed upwards.

"There, I was going to try and let it cool naturally but this has cooled it quicker" Uni huffed before she started back on the road "Let's get going"

"She seems a little angry" I commented, slowly picking up my new weapon and lightly touching the joint, before wrapping the chain along my arm.

"She just does not like being rushed" Noire said watching me "So what are you going to do with that spare knife holster? You can't put it in there and throw it quickly"

"I'll buy another knife" I replied which gained me an odd look from Noire "What? I like knifes"

"So I noticed" Noire replied dryly "Come on let's get going again"

Following behind Noire I could not resist spinning the kunai around a few times and getting used to its weight, I can already see how this would normally take people ages to master something like this and why people who do are to be feared. Such as Scorpion. Or... anyone else who uses rope darts.

-Ten minutes later-

"Welcome to Lastation" Noire spread her arms wide in the direction of her city.

Black buildings of a steam punk design reached towards the darkening sky while bright lights dotted the inside of the city. The high wall blocked any monsters access to the grand city and along the outside of the walls small cottages dotted the landscape, farms and other houses giving life to the countryside of Lastation.

"This view was definitely worth walking for" I commented "Now let's get inside before it gets any darker, I'd rather get a good night's sleep and be prepared for Neptune tomorrow than be cranky"

"I'll go ahead and prepare a room for him" Uni said before she quickly transformed and flew off towards the basilacom

"I really need to make sure Nepgear makes sure those thrusters can work in our gravity not just zero gravity" I muttered before walking down the path, Noire at my side.

"We could call into the clothing and weapon shop here today and order your custom equipment now so they will be ready by tomorrow" Noire spoke up,

"Sure you aren't just saying that to spend more time with me?" I grinned as the tips of her ears turned red again

"No that way we can pick them up when the girls arrive and test them out on the same day" Noire huffed "Stop making it out like I'm in love with you"

"Aw you love me Noire?" I replied in a smooth tone of voice, almost like a male Iris Heart

"Just stop!" Noire whined

"Fine fine" Raising my hands to placate her "Lead the way to the various shops we require.

Following behind her we visited the shops we needed, ordering the armour and then heading to the nearest firearms shop. Now this was where things became interesting, as I wanted to use Deadshot's equipment and my own so it resulted in the order of one wrist mounted handgun and one custom wrist mounted launcher for my rope dart which comes with a powerful winch to pull it back quickly, two standard handguns, one sniper rifle with a ACOG scope. The telescopic mount on the helmet will increase the sight to that of a normal sniper rifle.

Going to another shop this one for modifying pre-existing equipment I left my rope dart in their care to give it the addition of those little hooks in a sense making it a really aggressive grappling hook and finally we arrived at the Basilacom as night has fallen and a mixture of the moonlight and street lamps guided our path.

"Well this has definitely been fun today" I chuckled as we walked up the steps into the quiet reception area of the Basilacom

"It certainly has been interesting" Noire smiled as we waited for the elevator to come down. As it arrived we stepped in and she pushed a button

"I assume the floor we are going to stop at is going to be the guest floor?" I asked

"Of course where else do you think we were going to stop at?" Noire asked

"I don't know, depends on how forward you were going to be with me" I joked and could help but smile at her delayed blush as she finally caught on at my meaning.

"What is your obsession making comments like that?" She mumbled as the elevator slowed to a stop at the floor and we both got out

"Your response to those comments is cute" I replied and laughing as her cheeks got even redder "If you blush anymore you are going to have a permanent blush tomorrow"

"Oh shut up!" She almost squeaked as we reached the room "Here is your room, I'll talk to you tomorrow"

"Good night tomato Noire" I called after her as she practically sprinted towards the elevator.

Opening the door the room I would be staying in was quite spacious and neat, a wardrobe rested in the corner and a bunch of draws beside it. A bed occupied the far right corner and a nice black and grey rug rested on a smooth wooden floor. A window showed the city of Lastation, shining brightly in the dark of the night. Reminding me of my old home town in my dimension.

Shaking those thoughts out of my head I quickly stripped out of my cosplay gear and led in the bed without anything on. I would have to buy some nightwear at some point tomorrow so I could put something on but until then I'll just have to stick it like this. Just got to hope Noire, Uni or whoever it is who decides to wake me up knows to knock before entering. I would rather not show my naked body to someone when I'm still half asleep and not in a relationship with them as believe it or not I'm rather sensitive about my body like a load of other people and I'm not in perfect shape like all those other models you see.

Anyway I'm gonna go to bed, I'll need the energy for dealing with whatever shenanigans the author decides should happen tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

This morning was... not that interesting really, I usually wake up early so by the time Noire knocked (I was more surprised she actually knocked but I guess barging in without a second thought it Neptune's thing really) I was already changed and ready to get moving, was I working out and trying to lose some weight? Hell no it's my second day here I'm not exercising. Procrastination for the win.

"Hey the girls will be here soon, have you had any breakfast yet?" Noire asked, her hands were behind her back, she was probably moving her fingers around a lot as she looked nervous

"No I don't know where you can get breakfast" I replied, tightening the shoulder straps on the armour. "Have you?"

"Not yet so I was thinking we could get breakfast before the others arrive? Uni has already gone to get something to eat" Noire asked, she can be so cute when she's so innocent and not her HDD overconfident self.

"Sure, I promise I will not tease you when the others are here...much" I winked at her as I made towards the door, deciding to leave my bag and laptop in my room.

"Right.. How little I believe you" She still smiled though.

Walking down the corridor I could not hold myself back from teasing her as we neared the elevator.

"Well then where are you taking me for our date?" I chuckled as she stumbled when I said "date"

"I It is not a date!" Noire replied, mumbling slightly "I was just planning to go to this little cafe close by"

"Well that does sounds nice, it has been a while since I ate breakfast at a shop" Getting in the elevator I pressed the button that led us to the ground floor.

As the door opened up and we stepped out and saw that a group of figures were blocking the doorway out, all of them at varying heights but one stood out among the rest. She had adopted an action hero pose in front of the group as her purple hair swayed slightly in the light breeze coming in behind her.

"Oh god it's her" I muttered

"Who?" Noire asked, apparently she had not put it together who it was yet, she can be so dense sometimes.

"We, the society of cock-blockers are here to stop you from going on a date with Thomas, Noire!" Neptune called out, pointing her finger at Noire who had frozen and gone bright red.

"It's a good thing you put a comma between Thomas and Noire, Neptune or it would of looked like we were married" I commented, crossing my arms as Noire looked between us in shock and embarrassment.

"Married!?" Neptune almost shouted "Noire you have only met him for a day and you are already married!?"

"What!? No!" Noire shrieked as people started watching the little charade happening between us with a mixture of amusement and interest

"Do not deny the truth!" Neptune called out, resuming her previous pose

At this point Noire had fallen onto her knees and her face was just as red as a tomato with a silent scream on her lips,

"Right okay shows over" I finally decided to stop playing along, helping Noire onto her feet as everyone walked over

"Sorry Noire but Neptune insisted we did this, arriving early and the teasing" Vert chuckled lightly

"It was pretty amusing to watch" Blanc spoke up which everyone agreed to.

"But now we broke Noire" I replied, poking her cheek as she simply hung her head, her ears still a bright red

"Should we get Plutia to help? We left her in planeptune as she's still completely asleep" Neptune asked which caused everyone to look at her in horror

"Neptune there is teasing then there is torture" I shivered thinking of how Iris Heart would try to "fix" Noire. "Anyway let's get to that cafe you mentioned Noire, we still need to get breakfast"

"Oh you haven't had breakfast either?" Vert asked "We all came early so we could catch you two so we also missed breakfast"

"Breakfast would be appreciated" Neptune whined, clutching her stomach.

"Yeah we could make you eggplant stew Neptune" I smirked as I watched her flinch away when I said that.

"Now that is just mean" She muttered

"Meh bite me" I retorted as Noire finally seemed to come back to us, a slight flush still on her face

"Right lets go before you two start" She interrupted walking out of the Basilacom.

"Bite me?" Neptune looked up at me as we followed her out "That's pretty NSFW of you Thomas"

"They are just fighting words back in my dimension" I replied walking down the steps to Noire "I would not advise biting me"

"Why? Is it a kink for you?" Neptune asked, a sly grin on her face.

"I'll let you find that out" I replied simply not rising to the bait, instead just flicking her forehead. "Now let's get to this cafe before Neptune gets any ideas"

Walking down the road I stayed out of the small talk generated by the girls and simply fell back into my thoughts on how I got here. It must of happened when Plutia came over here that the portal was not perfect so it opened in our dimension and I just so happened to be falling where it appeared. That would be the logical explanation for it but the simple explanation is that the Author wanted this to happen so he made it happen.

"We're here" Noire said pulling me out from my thoughts, the cafe was a small but nice little shop, big windows gave us a view inside. The inside was nothing too special it was set up like any normal cafe from back in my dimension so nothing stood out. Someone was sat in the in one of the booths at the back of the cafe but they looked normal enough except for the green hair and white-purpleish skin... wait what?

"Come on lets head in" Noire and the other girls entered and with a second of hesitation I followed behind them. I think maybe it will be best if I don't bring it up with them and let Linda have a peaceful morning before she does another nefarious deed like stealing candy from a baby or something.

Heading in I was greeted by a small girl with blue hair behind the counter "Welcome what would you like?" her voice sounded young but I was not going to question her age. Anime and game logic is that anyone can be old. Even a girl who has the body of a five year old but is actually 3000 years old.

Looking at the list on the shop I saw something that instantly made my mouth water "Can I have the bacon sandwich?"

"Of course!" Handing her the money she rushed around for a while before returning with a bacon sandwich which had a generous amount of bacon in it "Thank you for your patronage"

"And like that I have suddenly remembered that girl from Fairy Fencer F" I muttered as I went over to where the girls sat.

"What is...that?" Blanc spoke up, disgust in her voice

"This is a miracle of nature, a blessing from the divines and creator of life itself. This, Blanc, is a bacon sandwich" I replied, taking a bite and closing my eyes to appreciate the flavour fully.

"It looks nasty" She replied

"You have offended me in fifteen different ways" I retorted "If it was not for this sandwich and my lack of energy right now I would challenge you to a duel, so instead dishonour on you and dishonour on your cat"

"It looks... like something you would definitely enjoy" Vert spoke up, opening my eyes I could see they had all gone for pastries or a salad. Nothing with meat

"So?" I replied, I was getting annoyed with how these girls seemed to be disgusted with my food tastes. "We all can't be on diets"

"I am not on a diet!" Vert almost shouted but from the slight flush on her cheeks I can tell she was.

"Sure whatever diet girl" I busied myself with eating my sandwich

"No one seems to be nice today" Blanc spoke up

"It's Monday, its early in the morning" I replied before looking at all the girls "And you all interrupted my date with Noire"

"AH HA!" Neptune suddenly shouted, slamming her hands onto the table causing a couple bowls to shake "So you were going on a date!"

Noire simply shook her head side to side at a ridiculous speed while I just sighed.

"She won't admit that she is madly in love with me and wants to go on many dates with me" I sighed which caused Neptune to reach across the table and pat my shoulder gently

"Don't worry Lonely heart will eventually allow another heart to join hers" She replied in a mock attempt to cheer me up

"What is your obsession in getting me and him together Neptune!?" Noire suddenly shouted, causing me to wince as I was sitting beside her. My choice really so I can't blame anyone else beside me.

"Well when he first arrived you two had an interesting meeting" Neptune put a finger to her chin as if in deep in thought "You both cosplay so it would be a perfect match"

Noire's head just slammed against the table as she gave up arguing with her, during this whole argument and Vert and Blanc laughing at Noire's expense I had noticed that Linda seemed to be paying attention to what we were saying, her head turned slightly to the side so her ear was facing us.

"Well if we are done eating shall we get going then?" Noire stood up suddenly again and left with the other girls following behind her still chuckling.

Getting up instead I poked the side of Linda's head causing her to turn and freeze up when she saw me.

"Heya Linda, fancy meeting you here" I chuckled as she moved further into the stall she sat in

"H Hi It's a small world right?" She stammered, a nervous smile on her face

"That it is" Looking down at her food I could see it was rather inexpensive to what the girls ate so I assume she was low on money "Do you like eating meat?"

"I I guess why?" She asked, cocking her head to the side and losing less of her nerves.

"Hold up for a second" Going back over to the girl behind the till I ordered another bacon sandwich and after paying for it I placed it down in front of Linda "Eat this, might help you with the start of your day"

Cautiously Linda bit into the sandwich and her eyes closed as an expression of bliss passed onto her face.

"Taste good?" I couldn't help but smile as she nodded with renewed vigour "Good, I'm going to be back here later today in the evening by myself so if you could come back here then I want to ask you a few questions"

She paused at this and a look of fear passed onto her face which in turn made me worry. What? I'm sensitive too.

"Don't worry I'm not going to attack you or anything" I raised my hands to placate her "I'll buy you something to eat and drink here too if that helps"

She thought for a moment, as if she was weighing up her decisions before she finally spoke "Okay I'll meet you outside the cafe this evening then"

"Sweet see ya then" Getting up and leaving her to her bacon sandwich I walked outside where the girls were waiting.

"Who was that?" Vert asked, it seemed like both her and Noire had stopped blushing.

"Just a girl who looked like she needed a pick me up in the morning" I replied

"Should we go talk to her too?" Blanc spoke up, worry in her eyes

"No it's fine, she was worried enough when I spoke to her, she'd faint if the goddesses descended on her" Chuckling I tried to play it off. Linda really did not need the goddesses to see her here. Who knows who they'll react.

With a few nods they turned and we all started walking down the streets towards our first stop in the clothing shop, casting a look behind me I could see Linda was still eating but this time had a smile on her face and not a malicious one. One that told me that she was changing from just a few nice actions towards her.

As we arrived at the front of the shop I stopped.

"And leaving this here till the next chapter. Ciao until then" I smirked at the look of irritation on Neptune's face that I beat her to her line.


	7. Chapter 7

"Are you just drawing this out so you can upload more chapters?" Neptune asked as we entered the shop and I approached the shop.

"What? No perish the thought" I smirked "Heya I'm here for my custom order?"

"Ah yes right away" The shopkeeper nodded before moving into the back of the shop

"Custom order? You have already been here?" Blanc spoke up, which resulted in a sound of irritation from Vert.

"Yeah me and Noire came here when we arrived, that way we could just pick up the clothing and go onto the next shop where I have more weapons to buy" I replied, taking the box from the hands of the shop keeper and moving into the changing booth.

"How much money do you have left? You have to of used it all up by now!" Vert gasped

"Yeah it ran out when I was buying that girl some food" I chuckled, pulling the cosplay gear off. "So I'm going to have to get some more money today as I want to go out this evening by myself in case I find something I want to buy"

"Not another knife" Noire chastised

"I already said I was going to buy another one" I retorted pulling the armour on and fiddling with a few of the buttons to make sure the telescope over my right eye worked perfectly I pulled the black trench coat over my armour and pulled the sheet stopping the girls from seeing me change aside.

"Wow.." Neptune gasped as the others simply looked at me with a mixture of shock and interest.

"You can say that again Neptune" I chuckled patting down the outside of my armour and making sure none of it was too tight.

"Wow.." Neptune gasped again which caused me to tap her head

"Less of the sass Neppy" I chastised before thanking the shop keeper and leaving.

"You look like you spent a while thinking on this" Blanc commented, examining it closely

"Yeah it took a while" I told a half-truth as it did take a while to decide on what to look most like but I decided to leave out that it was a combined idea between me and Noire, I think I'll go easier on her for the rest of today.

"The black and red does look good on you" Vert spoke up, nodding to herself like I met her standards of fashion.

"The definition of swag right here" I chuckled as we started towards the next shop on my list. "Anyway when I get the opportunity I'm going to change the red for green. Should be a simple spray paint job for this.

"Do you have anything else to pick up today?" Blanc asked skeptically

"Not really but like I said before I need money for this evening" I replied

"You've been here for less than a week and you've already used more money than Neptune" Noire muttered "And all she buys is pudding unless someone reminds her that she needs to make buy a new sword"

"Yeah but you girls don't need to buy armour, your magic stuff keeps you protected" I retorted entering the shop "Hey I'm here to pick up my custom orders"

"The fact that you put a plural on that makes me worried" Blanc muttered

"Ah I'm just becoming a walking arsenal don't worry" I chuckled as the owner came back and proceeded to help me strap the fire arms to me. While the wrist launcher and pistol we obviously on the wrists I strapped the pistols on my lower back both while the sniper rifle was strapped across my back, the scope and bolt on it were tested to make sure they were in working order when I would need them.

"Do you have enough weapons now?" Blanc asked dryly looking over me

"Still need another knife remember?" I smirked as she rolled her eyes "Come on Blanc I thought you were the smart one"

"Is that a challenge?" she growled

"Hell no I'm insane not suicidal" With the help of the shop keeper we fed the chain into the launcher "Right time to test this bad boy out"

"How will you do that?" Neptune asked, a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Shoot it at a building and see if it'll hold my weight and pull me upwards" Turning to her I couldn't help but smile as I saw that I had everyone's attention for this. "And don't worry Noire I'll make sure I don't cause any major damage"

Aiming my left arm upwards I closed my left eye to allow myself to use the telescope easier, with a slight adjustment, I pressed a small button on my index finger and the kunai fired upwards past the corner.

"You missed dummy" Neptune sounded annoyed at my apparent failure.

"Sure about that?" I commented.

Pressing a second button located on the same index finger the hooks came out of the kunai, they were small but thick and they dug into the top of the building. After pressing the first button the small motor whirred into life again, suddenly jerking me upwards towards the building. Spreading my feet apart slightly I braced as I hit the wall; causing my teeth to jar slightly but all in all I was okay. After pressing the second button to release the hooks I grasped onto the top of the building and pulled myself up.

"So... What now Neptune?" Looking down on them I could see a mixture of expressions across the faces of the girls. While Neptune was looking extremely jealous, Blanc was looking just as indifferent as usual, Vert had a interested look on her face and Noire's face matched hers.

"I am so stealing that from you" Neptune called up.

"You have to catch me first" I joked but watched as she just smirked and in a flash of light Purple Heart stood there, looking up at me with the same cocky smirk on your face.

"You were saying?" She reached out and pulled a black sword with a purple edge out of nowhere and pointed it towards me.

"I thought today was a day of chilling and possibly a quest so I can get some cash together?" I called down to her, I really did not want to fight any of these girls transformed especially Neptune as she has a massive personality flip that I think is really cool.

"It's sweet that you think I'm cool but that won't save you" She grinned at my shock "Tell you what, if you can outrun me for the hour I'll give you some money, do it again and I'll give you some more. Knock me on my ass and I'll give you anything you want as a reward then"

"Whoa Neptune that sounds slightly NSFW" I backed up slightly but the offer was still playing through my head. If I just outrun her I'll hopefully have enough to buy Linda the food and drink I promised her. But the option of whooping her ass was just too good to pass up too "But I'll take that deal and stop reading between the lines of the story dammit!"

"Good because here I come!" She suddenly pushed off from the floor, creating a small sonic boom as she quickly reached my position.

"God damn she's fast when she is motivated enough!" I spoke through gritted teeth, kicking back to avoid a few swipes from Purple Heart. Turning I ran to the edge and jumped off, launching the hook into another building and swinging onto the wall, before I started running up it.

"Itsy bitsy spider" I heard Purple Heart call teasingly as she started following behind me

"I am not a spider!" I shouted back, rolling over the edge I continued on my sprint across the building; vaulting over small obstacles in my way.

Looking back I could see the other girls had also transformed and were following behind but at a safe distance back to not get in the way of Neptune and her energetic rampage. Last time I rely on those girls for assistance against a hyperactive goddess.

"Stop worrying about them and worry about me!" Purple Heart suddenly shouted from in front of me.

Looking forward quickly Purple Heart had jumped in front of me and was starting a swing which would impress professional baseball batters. Dropping to my knees I slid by her, hearing the wind go by my head I jumped back onto my feet and continued running.

When I reached the next edge of this row of buildings an idea struck me, if it didn't work I would have to be scrapped up from the floor with a trowel. Kicking off again I could almost imagine Purple Hearts blade just missing my back as I fired the hook again but this time I fired it at the corner of the building and using my momentum and pulling the chain in at the last second I managed to swing around the corner without losing too much momentum.

"You say you aren't a spider yet you swing like one!" Purple Heart called as she flew after me.

"Shut up I'm learning how to use this still!" I called back, doing the same move again but this time instead of taking a corner I swung forward to keep my lead on Purple Heart "So what caused this sudden chasing? Jealous of all the attention I'm giving Noire?"

Apparently saying this was a mistake as I heard another _Boom!_ And only just was able to pull myself onto the roof of another building as Purple Heart flew by. She stopped quickly and turned her face had a slight red tinge to it.

"Now I know I'm not bleeding so are you blushing?" I had enough of running, at least till I hit her once then I'll run for the rest of this hour.

"Shut up!" She shouted as she pushed towards me again, the all too familiar _Boom!_ of Purple Heart breaking the sound barrier being the only warning I got as she ate up the distance between us. Rolling backwards I fired the rope dart right at her as she came to a stop at where I was before; the kunai found it's mark just above Purple Hearts stomach, wincing as she cried out in pain I pulled the chain back in shouting out the famous line from Scorpion.

"Get over here!" When she was right in front of me I turned off the motor and swung my right hand in the shape of a fist with all of my might, it collided with her chin launching her high into the air with the hook still in her. Grabbing the chain I swung it over my head with all my might and with the help of the motor she came crashing into the top of the building.

Closing the hooks I ran over to her to make sure she was okay "Hey Neptune whatever you do, don't you dare go into the light"

As the dust cleared she opened her eyes unsteadily "Did you really make a Mortal Kombat reference just then?"

"Yeah it was just too perfect" I grinned "Still up for moving or are you going to give in for now?"

"I'll give up for now" She smiled, while she had a bit of dirt on her face she still looked really cute "You think I'm cute?"

"Dammit Neptune I thought I told you to not read between the lines" I smiled but didn't deny it. "Anyway we need to patch you up"

Looking down to where the kunai had struck her I found... no wounds at all. No blood just a slight tear in her clothing.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention" She stood up quickly, rapping her head with a her knuckles and a cute smile on her face "Unless we don't have any shares we goddess won't take any permanent damage"

"You little..." I muttered getting up and patting the dirt off me "I was really worried about you ya know?"

"I know" She giggled as the other girls landed close by "Well you knocked me on my ass so what do you want?"

"Just enough money to buy a drink and something to eat in that little cafe" I smirked at the surprised look on her face "What were you hoping for something more?"

"N-No I was just expecting you to ask for something different" She muttered.

There was a exasperated from the other girls as we got down to the floor, Purple Heart gave me a ride down.

"Neptune you need to stop jumping to conclusions so often" Noire lightly tapped Neptune's head

"He's so flirty with everyone so it's not my fault" Neptune shot back before pulling out the promised cash and handing it over.

"Pleasure doing business with you Neptune" I gave a small bow "Next time how about we choose a spot outside of everyone's cities and have a real fight then. Maybe then I'll have mastered my equipment then"

"Sure I'll be up for that" Neptune perked up, her trademark smile on her face

"Good" I patted her head "Now I would offer this to anyone else but I think you would have to fight Neptune just to join in"

Neptune agreed by nodding her head "It's my privilege to train him"

"Train me?" I whispered as the other girls just shrugged and we all started walking down the road for a reason that was beyond me.

"In the art of fourth wall breaking" She replied and I nodded sagely

"Ah yes, you are the master of doing that" I smiled as we continued following behind the girls. The day had only just begun so it will be a while before I meet up with Linda.


	8. Chapter 8

Now hopefully this chapter will involve less me being chased by a girls and more chilling and meeting Linda and who knows maybe even get her to be a good guy now. But I'm getting ahead of myself, getting back to the present we were currently in a forest for some quest the girls picked up in the guild. It was just going around the forest removing a couple of annoying monsters around the city, I was mainly in it for the money and the company. Like people company not PMC or bank company.

"Dammit these dogoos don't give up" Neptune grumbled, slicing through another couple dogoos. "Noire how many are left?"

"About three left, we have to stop them from getting to that farm and destroying the crops again" Noire replied, destroying one of the last few remaining dogoos.

"Crap they are about to get away!" Blanc pointed towards the last two remaining dogoos as they bounced towards the lone farm, a young couple gasped in shock.

"Keep your hair on I've got them" I replied, with a _Crack!_ the bullet slammed into one of the dogoos, Pulling the bolt back I started to squeeze the trigger when Neptune dashed by me, now transformed, and began to cut up the last dogoo. "You know I said I had them"

"Yeah but as I am the main character I get last hit rites" Purple Heart stuck her tongue out before flicking a few scraps of goo from her arms.

"I could of shot you in the butt you know?" I slung the rifle onto my back and walked up to Purple Heart, this was the only time when she was as tall as me.

"Yeah" Purple Heart shrugged "But I trust that you cared enough to not shoot me in the butt"

"Well if that is your thoughts" I mimicked Purple Heart's action. "Just don't turn the whole 'Round in the ass' thing out of context"

"Aw why not?" Purple Heart whined, putting her hands on her hips while glaring at me "Only got eyes for Noire? and also Bow Chika Bow Wow"

"Nope" I replied popping the 'p' "I'm still free for anyone I have an interest in. And really? Red vs Blue reference?"

"Well I'm sure any new characters to this story will be pleased to hear that" Purple Heart remarked as she turned back to her original form as we started walking back home "Also yes, it was too perfect of a moment to avoid making the reference"

Sighing I simply ruffled her hair and began walking back towards the guild, it seemed like till this evening I was going to be spending time with Neptune. The other girls had already left, having stuff to do that required their immediate attention so that means Blanc has writing to do, Noire probably needs to go check up on her newest cosplay idea and I heard a new game had recently came out in Leanbox (By heard I mean Vert would not stop gushing about it) so she shot off when that last dogoo fell.

"What's on your mind?" Neptune asked as she walked beside me, slightly struggling to keep up due to my faster walking speed, tall legs for the win.

"Just thinking you have had a big character change" I replied with a smirk at her surprised face

"Really?"

"Yeah you've become more flirtier"

"I have not!"

"Yeah you have, you would of never of made that "Round in the ass" Joke before"

"I-I would of!"

"No way"

"Yes way!"

"Are you jealous of the attention Noire gets?"

"Shut up!"

"That's a yes"

"No its not!"

During our little argument we have actually managed to walk back to the guild without running into any trouble, whether that was because the Author wanting a smooth trip to the guild while giving some character development or maybe it was because no one really wanted to mess with a goddess and a heavily armed man, whose face was covered by a white mask.

Walking over to one of the terminals I loaded up our contract and pressed a small button to complete it thankfully we had made a little group, like in adventure game in video games, so the funds were split evenly across everyone.

"Aand the job is finished" I turned and looked down at Neptune "And I now have you for a couple of hours before I get the evening to myself"

"Don't sound so disappointed!" Neptune huffed, crossing her arms

"Trying my best" I retorted before patting her head "So what can we do to spend these hours together till this evening?"

-one hour later-

"Ha! I win again!" Neptune cawed flinging her hands into the air as I slumped onto the arcade machine.

We had moved to a close by arcade and were currently about half way through all the arcade machines, currently it is actually a tie between us as while I excel at combat games, whooping her ass on every arcade machine; she in turn gave my hide a seeing too in every racing game. We were both equally crap at singing games and equally good at rhythm games.

"It has been one hour of constant gaming and neither of us has gained a big lead on each other" I muttered as Neptune did her trademark victory run around the arcade.

"Well this is using up time till we go our separate ways" Neptune chuckled coming to a stop beside me.

"True true" I replied before a thought crossed my mind "Neptune how much money do you have left?"

The smile on Neptune's face froze up as she pulled a small purse out and looked inside to find nothing left.

"Looks like our gaming spree has come to a close" I commented while Neptune adopted a nervous grin.

"Yeah... Character dev time between us or time jump?" She asked

"Time jump I'm thinking, can't have the future relationship between us advancing too quickly" I winked

"Wait what?" Neptune almost shouted in shock.

-four hours later-

"Well that will officially mess with her till I next see her" I snickered before straightening my coat out and making my way towards the cafe. "Here's hoping I don't intimidate Linda too much with my new look"

It didn't take too long to get back to the cafe and true to her word Linda was leaning against the wall of the cafe I guess trying to look intimidating so no one talks to her and not look nervous but she's failing at both of them.

Walking over to her I tapped on her shoulder causing her to jump.

"Nice to see you showed up" I smirked as a nervous smile passed across her face.

"Y-Yeah you have changed" She replied

"Yeah I guess I have" I shrugged before gesturing towards the door of the cafe "Ladies first"

Slightly nodding Linda walked in, she was probably thinking it was a trap still but I could not change how she thought except by how I act.

Following behind her we sat down in one of the booths, there was a group of girls in one of the other booths and they seemed to be of little importance at the moment that I'm not going to give them any detail, and an awkward silence settled between us, she was trying not to stare at me and vice versa. Deciding to remove my helmet to help ease the tension I set it down on the table beside me I looked up to see that she was staring even more but with a little less fear in her eyes.

"See? Like I said I'm human" I smiled

"Yeah that is true" She seemed to relax a bit more.

"Well do you want that drink and bite to eat?" I asked which caused her to nod furiously "Well come up with me and you can choose"

"O Okay"

Getting up we made our way over to the all too happy to take your money blue haired girl and decided to both get bacon sandwiches again and she got a soft drink that that was apparently meant to be really good.

As we sat back down again the awkward silence fell between us again it was only this time punctured with the occasional sounds of us eating and drinking.

"Well this is a riveting conversation" I stated dryly which she flinched at "Sorry, so I'll get on with asking you those questions"

Linda just nodded and sat a bit higher in her seat as if that will show that she's paying more attention than she already was.

"So why have you been following me?" Might as well start with the biggest question on my mind.

"I uh..." She looked around as if the answer will appear out of the walls "It's kinda awkward to say ya know?"

"I can guess" I replied, chewing on a bit of bacon that had fallen out of my sandwich "But I need to know"

"You need to huh?" She paused for a moment before nodding, to herself I guess, and looking me in the eyes for the first time "You're different from the others"

"I'm different?" I raised an eye-brow at this. Normally when someone calls you different from others it usually is a bad thing but something tells me that this isn't a bad thing this time.

"Well first you call me by my name, not Underling like those girls and everyone else does" Linda explains, scratching her cheek slightly "You didn't do some over the top beat down on us when you defeated us or gloat about how little effort you put into it like others might of"

"Over the top beat down huh?" I mused thinking about how flashy the girls attacks can be "Yeah being flashy and the centre of attention is not exactly my style. I prefer just being noticed by the people who matter to me"

"Your armour catches attention" Linda pointed out but I smirked at that.

"It's meant to attract attention as it tells people not to fuck with me or the people I know" I replied "Think of it like an alternate personality. While I may be a jokey, charming if I do say so myself and flirtatious person normally my armour paints a person who is cold, calculating and deadly"

"Wish I could do something like that" Linda murmured sipping her drink "The red looks kinda cool too"

"Ah well I'm changing that to a green, it's more my style" I replied, leaning back I decided to try and sneak a compliment in. To boost her moral so she may become a bit more talkative "Like the colour of your hair I really like it"

"Y-You do?" She blushed slightly at that and started fiddling with her hair.

"Yup!" I smiled reassuringly "So the reason you came back was because of the reasons you've already stated?"

"Well..." She trailed off before starting again "Well also because you seem a hell of a lot cooler than the other people I have followed for a while now"

Oh? Now this has become interesting, seems like I really did change her perspective on things when we first met. That and I think I may of broken her original character somewhat but this is a fan fiction.

"Go on. You have my undivided attention" Leaning slightly on the table I couldn't help but smile as she seemed to perk up hearing that

"Well there is another thing you do better than what the others do. You seem to listen to everyone but still stay chilled and cool about it" Her eyes seemed to be sparkling slightly... Oh god have I just gained a fan girl? I know she was a pretty big fan girl but after CFW Magic nearly killed her I guess that left a hole in her fan girl heart and I've accidentally just gone and filled it.

"I try my best to spread my attention equally among people" I replied, it was probably best to let her get used to me a lot before trying to convince her to tag along with me. This story did not have any major plot points so far so I guess I'll have to find one. That and go on various adventures with people.

"You're humble too, from all the time I've watched you, you've never gloated over anything seriously" She hummed as if agreeing with herself "In battle you always seem to know what is going on and when to act, even us low level antagonists seem to be equal in your eyes. All a threat and that feels nice in a weird way"

"While the way you said it definitely sounds weird I know what you mean" I felt like progress was definitely being made as she laughed at what I said. Believe me or not but she has a really cute laugh when she is not trying her best to be evil

"So yeah that is why I was following you. Though this morning was a complete accident that we met" Linda blushed slightly, I guess she was remembering how she acted when I approached her.

"Well you have certainly convinced me that you have turned over a new leaf" I replied, shifting slightly to remove some of the weight on my arms. I'm not that fat shut up. "But I have to ask why were you stealing the other day?"

"Well me and Warechu needed cash for food as after the CPU's beat Arfoire and her lot we were out of a job but you stopped us so we were stuck deciding what to do after" She replied, her mood dropping to sadness in a heartbeat "While I wanted to follow you and ask to be your und- I mean just find stuff out about you he wanted to stay as far away from you as possible as you left a big impression on him that you were a scary badass who we shouldn't mess with. So we split what remaining cash we had and went our separate ways"

"Damn... I'm sorry to hear that" Reaching across the table I lay a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. I really don't work well with crying girls, for a guy it's so difficult to try and cheer up girls when they cry. With a guy it's easy. Girls not so much.

"We are still friends but..." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes "But I haven't heard from him for a while now and I'm worried"

"Please don't start crying" I replied "He'll be fine, he can fly and is really bouncy so nothing will really hurt him"

"Still I'm worried" She murmured

Deciding this might be the moment to change the subject so she can cheer up a bit I decided to bring the topic of our conversation around to her.

"When we fought I was actually having to stay on my toes to avoid taking a hit from you" I commented which caused her head to flick up in shock.

"You were?" She almost gasped "But you said you were stretching your legs"

"Scare tactics, it made you think I was much more prepared than I actually was" I smiled "That stuff I had on would not of protected me from a single hit of your pipe"

"Wow.. So I was a bigger threat than I thought?"

"Yup, so I made sure I took you down first quickly"

"Yeah you flipped me onto my ass"

"Sorry bout that but it was the only way to get you out of the fight quickly without causing too much damage"

There was a pause before I finally breached the idea to her.

"Would you like to join me as a friend and work together?"

The response was instant, she suddenly sat up, drank too quickly so she spluttered and kicked the table by accident in her shock.

"W work together as a friend!?" She spluttered a bit more before clearing her chest and looking down at the table "Don't you mean as an underling or minion?"

"No I mean as a friend, buddy, ally" I replied, poking the top of her head lightly "Everyone deserves a second chance, you're no different"

"But with everything I've done, the people I've hurt I can't just suddenly wipe that away" She mumbled, fiddling with her fingers.

"No you can't" I replied before sitting back "But you can begin to make up for them and start doing the right thing. We can even go looking for your friend Warechu too"

There was a pause while she thought over it carefully, I was aware that this could be one massive trick composed by Arfoire or something to get someone they have to gain our trust etc. but I don't think that she is that smart. Arfoire not Linda, Linda could actually think of a plan like that.

"How would you get the CPU's to trust me?" Linda asked, looking up at me carefully.

"That part is easy. They have all been trying their best to stay hidden and listen into this conversation discreetly; not realizing that they stand out from the crowd"

There was an audible gasp from the booth behind us and Linda's face grew pale as the girls all sort of fell out of the booth. Apparently they had all been on top of each other trying to listen into the conversation. Neptune looked up from the floor and flashed a nervous smile

"Busted" She said timidly

"Oh yeah" I replied, crossing my arms and looking at the group of girls that lay frozen on the spot. This was going to be interesting next chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

"So um... heya" Neptune waved awkwardly as she and the other girls got up.

So lets set the scene, in this nice little cafe me and Linda, who I had been slowly pushing to join our side, and it was going well and she was basically on the edge of joining our group when those girls collapsed onto the floor after evesdropping from the booth right next to us.

"Nice to see you too Neptune" I replied dryly "You girls just couldn't hold back from following me huh?"

"It was too tempting" Neptune rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.

Looking over at Linda I could see that she was on the verge of running and freaking out, which was not surprising considering these were the goddesses that had been her enemy for so long, so I gently patted her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

"We are really sorry about this" Noire mumbled, dipping her head slightly.

"Huh? I-Its fine" Linda stammered, almost hiding behind me for fear the girls will do something.

"Well then I don't need to bring this up with you girls later on" I remarked, crossing my arms "Can you let Linda into the little group we have?"

"She seems to be different from when we last saw her" Blanc responded, her same neutral tone of voice. I really need to teach her to show emotion once in a while.

"Before she was trying to steal sharicite and was supporting Arfoire so she has changed a lot" Vert commented which caused Linda to flinch slightly.

"Well I'm going to take it that you girls are fine with Linda joining us then" I responded dryly "As there haven't been any open responses against her"

"It's fine if she joins but does she have a place to stay?" Noire asked

"How about you ask her instead of asking me?" I replied

"O-Oh um..." Noire mumbled in embarrassment "Do you have a place to stay Underling?"

"Linda" I cut in, these girls really need to learn her real name

"O-oh right sorry, do you have a place to stay Linda?" Noire repeated,

"Not really" She replied from behind me, this is both an extremely cute and awkward situation.

"So where do you sleep?" Vert asked, out of all the girls I can believe that she might be the most forgiving out of all the girls, even though Linda did impersonate Chaika.

"I um... Just sleep outside wherever I can find a decent place" Linda mumbled, slowly making her way out from behind me.

"You sleep rough? Wow you are like the female Bear Grill except you commit more crime" Neptune looked in awe at her.

"There goes the fourth wall again" I commented.

At this point I had slowly began to zone out as the girls were getting along well with Linda and she was slowly becoming more comfortable with them, they were all sitting on one side of the booth together (It was a bit of a squeeze considering there were a lot of them) and I was on the other side where I was sitting originally; so I had my back to the door but that didn't matter that much, though I could tell Linda was still keeping on her toes just in case one of them tried something as on more than one occasion she flinched when one of them reached forward. It seemed like this would be a long time until she had fully settled in and was comfortable with the girls.

"So where will you stay tonight?" I heard one of the girls, Vert I think, ask pulling me back to reality.

"I'm... not too sure really" Linda chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head "Probably somewhere outside I can find that is dry"

"No way can we let that happen!" Vert argued, "You should come stay with me in Leanbox"

"It would be best, my nation is too far away for us to get there before nightfall and I doubt Neptune's would of had their guest rooms fixed yet" Blanc spoke up.

"I have no idea what you're on about" Neptune laughed finding a sudden interest in the walls and floor of the cafe.

"Sure you don't" I commented before turning to Linda "Think you are going to be okay staying in Leanbox for the night while these girls set up some permanent arrangement for you. And me too at some point"

"Aw wanting to move away Noire already?" Neptune grinned.

"And leave my wife behind? Never!" I smirked as Noire suddenly whirled round her face like a tomato

"It's official they are married!" Neptune cawed, flinging her hands high into the sky.

"Congratulations" Blanc smiled as Noire looked between me and Neptune with a silent scream emanating from her mouth

"So when will Uni be an older sibling to someone?" Vert asked sending me a sideways glance as I felt my cheeks slowly start heating up. Damn her, how dare she start teasing me during my moment of teasing Noire.

"Hey stop it" I whispered shouted at her "We're teasing Noire not me!"

"The rules have changed" Vert replied with a smirk.

"Then I shall go to my allies in Planeptune..." I growled turning to Neptune expecting help but when I saw the devious grin on her face I knew I had been betrayed "Don't you dare Neptune"

"So... Tom..." She started slowly "How many kids should we be expecting?"

"I hate you" I almost growled at her feeling my cheeks burn up, slowly reaching the point Noire was at; who was, at this moment, clutching the sides of her face in embarrassment, Linda was struggling in her attempt to not laugh at us.

"Aw and we got you a personal trainer for your new marriage" Neptune smirked as I felt the blood run away from my face; the door to the shop swung open and I could hear the high heels of doom slowly making their way over to me.

"Linda shall we go? Best to let the new couple have some private time with their trainer" Vert smiled softly as she got up.

"Y Yeah" Linda stammered, a look of both fear and amusement plastered on her face as she and Vert quickly left the shop.

"Rom and Ram may need me so I'll be going now" Blanc had a small smile on her face as she got up and walked out "farewell"

"Nep Junior may have my help for... something... kay bye!" Neptune waved like she hadn't sacrificed us to the devil's wife and quickly ran off as Iris heart slid into the booth beside Noire, a playful grin on her face as she leaned over.

"So I heard you two have recently gotten married" Iris grinned looking between us both

"Yeah totally no really" I replied sarcastically.

"Tom sarcasm doesn't work with her!" Noire almost shouted as Iris smiled even more.

"Well then that is good because I wanted to talk to the new couple after Neppy roused me from my sleep" Iris purred casting a look at the both of us "It was slightly annoying at first that you left me out of the marriage but when my cute Neptune told me that you did that as you wanted me to help with your honey moon I was simply overjoined!"

"I have so many regrets, one being trusting Neptune" I muttered.

"Noire I really have to tell you all you need to know to help with your new husband" Iris purred again as Noire flinched away.

"I-I'm fine" She muttered

"Come on.. tell you what, I'll let you two prove that you can easily overcome this together and I'll go away and let you handle your honey moon together" Iris replied with a cocky smirk on her face "Kiss each other"

It was like the world had just exploded under me. On the one hand I'll admit I quite liked Noire, she was really cute, funny, nice and I liked being around her, on the other hand I had only known her for one coming up to two days now and getting into relationships too quickly never worked out, I have experience in that.

"Y You can't just expect me to do something like that after knowing her for only one day!" I voiced my protest in hopes that Iris was in a generous mood to listen to the pleas for mercy today.

"W-Wha? I-I mean yeah this is too short of a time frame!" Noire joined in after a moment's hesitation, her face was still deeply flushed.

"We aren't even married Plutia!" I continued on.

"That was what Neptune and the others made up to get you like this!" Noire continued, though she was still trying her best to edge away from Iris which in turn made her edge towards me.

"You say that as you move towards him" She replied, raising an eyebrow. "Fine if this really is a lie then you'll do anything to prove it right?"

"Yes...Wait no!" I started but Iris looked like she became deaf after hearing the first word that came out of my mouth.

"Kiss" She replied, the same predatory smirk on her face.

"Come on! Give us some time to get to know each other before then!" I protested and Noire nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

"Nope!" She continued moving closer to Noire until Noire was right up beside me then Iris slid back into her original place "See? Even Noire is warming to the idea as she's sitting right beside you"

"No I'm no-" Noire stopped as she noticed that she was indeed sitting right beside me.

"Real smooth Noire" I muttered, turning to her "Come on lets get this over with"

"B-But!" She protested, her eyes widening into two miniature footballs "Y-You can't be serious!"

"She won't stop if we don't!" I protested pointing to the demon in question who was leaning closer over the table so she could see. "It won't matter anyway you'll find someone better than me and you'll forget about this"

"I-Ive never kissed anyone before!" Noire burst out which made the air freeze up.

There was a long silence before I turned to Iris.

"I'm not kissing Noire" I stated and she looked slightly shocked at my sudden and serious change.

"Why not?" She asked, cocking her head to the side in a cute way... Dammit don't get distracted!

"First kisses are special and shouldn't just be thrown away" I replied "and I'm not that special and she doesn't like me in that way"

"She does actually" Iris replied with a smirk.

"Eh?" My heart missed a beat as I looked at a Noire who had her head in her hands and a now beaming Iris

"You didn't know?" Iris laughed "She is never this nice to anyone, if she didn't like you more than 'Just a friend' then she would of simply transformed and walked away without a backwards glance. She wouldn't of offered to take you in at Lastation or try and spend more time alone with you. Trust me we have tried for ages to get Noire hooked up but she simply won't give, demanding that she will find the right person on her own terms"

"O-oh" I stammered as a whine emanated from Noire. I think I can see smoke coming from her ears from embarrassment.

"She's one of those girls who fantasy's about a guy who does the same things she does, is funny to be around and who always talk to and care for her" Iris continued "You happened to fill all criteria with the added bonus of being flirty and from another dimension so you have so many things to talk about. Who would of guessed her perfect man would literally fall from the sky onto her"

"R-right" I replied again, my mind slowly going blank

"So congrats lover boy, you have basically bagged a goddess within one day of being here" Iris smirked.

"N-no this can't be real" I just couldn't believe this, Noire; the girl who always stood out and I was so sure that she and Neptune would be a thing actually wanted a guy like me? A guy who has so many flaws and doesn't look great either "Y-You're bluffing!"

"How about this instead" Iris asked getting both of our attention "As I'll admit is has been rather fast, even by my standards I give them a week before getting serious and no one last a week, turns out they just like this side of me not the real me. So I'll give you a month, one month to get to know each other and decide if you are both right for each other or not"

"We can't get any longer?" I asked timidly which she simply shook her head

"No you've only got till next month. Happy love making you two~" With a small wave Iris left the building leaving us both in an awkward silence. This was going to be interesting...


	10. Chapter 10

So... It was pretty awkward. For the rest of that week we didn't even talk to each other as simply looking at each other turned the both of us into giant tomatoes. The first time I tried speaking to her, just a simple "Heya", resulted in her suddenly swinging her sword at me, nearly taking my head off if she hadn't managed to stop herself.

The same happened when I was doing a check on one of my pistols when she suddenly said "Hi!" Behind me which caused me to yelp in surprise and pull the trigger resulting in us both dancing around, trying to avoid the bullet as it bounced off the walls and floor.

The other girls noticed our rather timid behaviour with each other and tried their best to get us back to talking with each other without risking our lives and others. This form of help mainly appeared in shoving the two of us together and other stupid ways to get us close to each other that conversation sprung up.

Thankfully Linda was not involved in their shenanigans as she was busy helping Uni and Nepgeae with robot work and repairing Planeptune. Apparently the first meeting was rough as Uni didn't trust her and was on the verge of attacking her when Nepgear stepped in between them. Turns out Linda was quite good with robotics and mechanics and so was helping those two in clearing up Planeptune.

Plutia had left to go back to her dimension but she promised to return by the end of the month with the other girls from her dimension for a party to celebrate me arriving and staying here.

We have gone on quest after quest while she has been gone, building up cash and share energy and coming up to the end of the month we went out on a urgent mission given to us by the leaders of the Guild.

"I can see you've finally got that green paint onto your armour" Vert commented as Black Heart dropped me off at the start of the dungeon where the other girls were waiting before changing back to Noire.

"Hey I've been busy up till now" I chuckled spreading my arms to show off my new look "but I think I look pretty good"

I had changed all the red on my armour for a awesome forest green and, with the help of Noire, added some green markings onto my helmet; adding a power symbol over the telescope so the point I look through is in the middle of it.

"I'll admit I prefer you like that to your original colours" Blanc spoke up from beside the enterance of the dungeon.

"Definitely looks more you now" Neptune nodded, like she knew before how I would look in it.

"Well that's good you girls approve of it" I gave a fake bow "so would you be so kind to remind me why we are on this quest?"

"The people who alerted the guild about this dungeon a while ago reported sightings of a large monster moving in and out this place and causing insane amounts of damage wherever it goes" Noire spoke up behind me before walking up to the enterance "So we are going to go kill it"

"Ooh sounds serious" Neptune jumped off a small rock she had been sitting on.

"Very" Vert agreed gravely "we should move quickly, carefully and stay together"

Walking over to the edge of the enterance I could see three seperate pathways for us to take. "Yeah about that Vert, there are three pathways. Someone's gonna have to go by themselves"

There was an awkward pause as the girls looked between each other for someone to volenteer.

"Should we draw straws?" Neptune asked timidly

"No need I'll go by myself" I shrugged as the shouts of protest started.

"You can't!"

"You don't have share energy to protect you"

"You use ranged attacks while we all use close quarter attacks to fight so let one of us"

"Oh shut up!" I shouted causing them all to be quiet. "I'm going and that's final. If someone comes to a dead end go back to the start and mark the way you went and go down a different tunnel"

"Why?" Neptune asked making me facepalm

"Because I doubt all of the tunnels will lead to the boss room" I replied "and if I find it I will wait for you girls before going in. If you girls find it just go in, I'll eventually get there"

There was a moments pause before they all agreed and we entered the dungeon. The girls grouped up in the most predictable manner; Noire with Neptune and Vert with Blanc.

"Well happy hunting!" I called out as everyone entered their tunnels.

-ten minuets later-

"I have so many regrets right now!" I shouted over the gunfire and screaming monsters.

So in my tunnel I had apparently found a tomb in which I had inadvertently awoken some skeletons. And by some I mean enough skeletons to feed every dog in my world for at least three weeks if they are greedy.

Pulling my pistols out I started putting them down confidently when I noticed the amount of them rising from the grave.

Both of my pistols kept roaring in the small cave I was in and I was so glad I was wearing a helmet as it was probably really loud. As they clicked empty I pushed them both back into their holsters and unslung my rifle, back peddling rapidly as the skeletons charged over their fallen brethren.

If the pistols sounded loud my rifle was deafening. _Crack!_ As I squeezed the trigger the first bullet jumped away, going through multiple ske tons before finally coming to a stop in another ones head. Repeating this action I kept firing until the magazine clicked empty.

There was a brief moment when the only thing that moved were the skeletons, raising their ancient weaponry to cut me to pieces when I slung the rifle and started using my wrist gun to shoot into the horde. Thankfully the wrist gun did not need reloading so I could pull out my kunai in my left hand and I went to work slicing and shooting through the skeleton horde.

As the last few fell one managed to cut my hip with his sword. So in my pain and anger I stomped on his head for a while until I noticed that I had reduced it to dust.

"Guess I got the wrong way" I muttered before turning back down the pathway; reloading and wrapping some bandages around my side. "Hopefully that'll hold until I get some real medical attention"

After a short walk down the tunnel I arrived back at the enterance we all started off from. Seeing that Vert and Blanc left a small X above their tunnel it was safe to assume that they had gone down Noire's and Neptune's tunnel so I headed down the tunnel myself.

It was not long before I could hear the sounds of battle, mainly inhuman roars of what I could only assume were pain. Coming to another enterance way I got to watch a giant chimera fall down dead with all of the girls hovering over its corpse. It looked a lot like a traditional chimera; part lion, part goat and part scorpion thingy but it's fur was a grey colour while the rest were a sickly shade of yellow.

"Well looks like you girls didn't need my help with this" I chuckled drawing their attention over to me. There was a brief moment of silence as they all just looked at me in shock.

"What?" I looked around for the reason of their shock before I remembered the bandages. "Oh these? I got cut that's all"

Laughing and waving their concerns off I walked towards the monster giving it a little kick just to make sure it wasn't playing possum. "Well is that mission complete now?"

"No apparently the target us in the next room" White Heart closed a holographic display of a map of the dungeon.

"Through that door over there?" I asked pointing at an ominous looking door "looks scary enough for a mini boss"

"Well let's look and find out" Green Heart said floating down and walking up to the door quickly. I can only assume she had something to do or a game to play after this.

While White Heart floated towards her so they could both have a peek, Black Heart and Purple Heart came to me as I walked over to the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Black Heart asked, concern flaring in her eyes.

"That wound will hamper your movement" Purple Heart followed up. Once again proving my point that Neptune has one of the most badass personality flips in all of this world.

"Thanks for pointing out what I already knew" I replied "I was acting tough hoping you two could in turn concentrate on completing this quest"

"Fine but I'll take you to a doctor" Purple Heart replied to my surprise.

"I'll accompany you two" Black Heart followed up which Purple Heart simply nodded to.

"Aw I have to sweet an cute goddesses both willing to take me to the doctors and care for me" I couldn't help but laugh as they both blushed, stumbled and started denying it saying they were both just looking out for an ally. "You two are way too in sync"

Arriving at the door we all entered into a massive hall which had large stone pillars standing tall and proud while one lay on its side.

"Only something big and really strong could break these pillars down" I commented examining the pillars. They weren't thin rather the opposite and it looked like something had smashed through it not chipped away at the stone and mortar.

"The real question is; where is this big creature?" Blanc replied, making her axe appear.

And like it was handed a card telling it exactly when to appear it smashed through wall with a roar. Crimson scales reflecting what little light was given off by the torches around the room.

"A dragon. Really?" I slowly stood up as it turned its head to face us before snapping its jaws and spitting a large ball of fire at us. Thinking fast I ducked behind the stone pillar and I felt it rush past me, the sudden heat making my eyes water. The girls had flown off in various directions and had began their attack. Dashing backwards and forwards in erratic patterns; never staying still for one second to not allow the dragon the chance to hit them.

Stepping back I pulled my rifle off my back and started shooting for the only vulnerable spot I could see ironically it was its eyes. The very thing it used to see.

After a few rounds I knew I had its attention. As it turned and sent the worlds most intimidating death glare my way before it started rushing towards me. Using my hook I mms aged to shoot it into a pillar and I swing around it to get out of the way. Luckily the stone could be pierced with my kunai so I continued swinging round before setting back down on the other side of the room, behind another pillar.

Soon after the dragon turned its sights back onto the girls allowing me to focus and fire more shots at it. This time though I managed to pierce its eye and it roared in pain and fury. With a grin I pulled the bolt back to load the next round only for it to jam.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" I shouted angrily pulling at the bolt to no avail. Looking up I saw a jet of fire being sent my way so without thinking I dropped the rifle, condemning it to the flames which reduced it to molten metal within seconds.

"Thomas be more careful!" Purple Heart shouted.

"Trying too!" I shouted back, reaching back to only find the the dragon fire must of been close enough to my pistols too, melting them onto the holsters. "I'm running out of weapons here!"

"What do you mean!?" White Heart shouted, slamming into the dragons side before darting off.

"I mean that mother fucker just melted both my rifle and pistols!" I shouted back before stepping out, firing my wrist gun at it.

With a roar it charged at me but I had hoped it would do that. Hooking onto another pillar I managed to pull myself over it and I fired a few rounds into one of it wings, ripping small holes into them and chasing blood to start to drop out.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" Black Heart shouted in my ear as she landed beside me.

"I have no other way of attacking unless I do shit like that!" I shouted back before pulling her behind another pillar "I hate dragons.."

"Um Thomas?" I heard Black Heart ask and I turned to face her before seeing that I was still holding her close to me. With my hands on her hips. Oops.

"Ah crap sorry!" I let go of her quickly resulting in a wolf whistle from Green Heart.

"The couple are getting closer!" She called as she quickly jabbed the dragon three times before backing off.

"Hey not official yet!" I shouted back "anyway it'll break Neptune's heart if we did become a thing"

There was laughter as Purple Heart try to shout her denial but kept getting cut off by the dragon.

"Come on let's go!" I turned with a smirk to Black Heart but she shook her head.

"I cannot let you risk your life like this. You will get seriously hurt or die!" She grabbed my hand stopping me from going back out.

"They need us Noire now is not the time!" I tried pulling away but her grip was iron.

"No!" She pulled me away from the edge "I won't let you!"

"Fine you made me do this!" Within a few short moments I pulled my helmet and pressed my lips agains her cheek. This was one of the biggest leaps of faith in my life and it looked like it was a success. Black Heart's face froze up as she took in what I was doing.

Quickly tearing my hand out of her grip I shot my rope dart off and swung around a pillar, pulling my mask back down again. I heard Black Heart shouting in protest but I didn't listen her. Sticking to the wall I fired more shots into the dragons wing and it roared in pain before it whipped its tail up to where I was hanging faster than I could react.

It felt like I had been hit by a train and all I could do was scream in pain as it spat another fireball at me but this one hit me full on. The armour saved me from most of the damage but I felt all of the impact as I hit the wall, cracking it before I slid down onto the floor with a sickening _crunch!_

I could hear my heart beating slower and slower but all other sound was gone. I could vaguely see the girls attacking in an even more frenzied pattern from seeing me fall I would guess but my vision was going dark...

Darker...

Yet even when everything was completely black and I thought I was dead Black Heart came into my sight, the darkness not touching her. Her angelic snow-White hair hanging over her shoulders as she shook my shoulders. Her sky blue eyes were filled with worry and fear as she stared at me screaming something... I can't hear her... How stupid to die here without hearing her voice once more and seeing her cute smile once again...


	11. Chapter 11

_Beep Beep Beep_

That was all I could hear. I couldn't see anything and my body was like lead. But it felt like someone had put something on me, like a blanket but... Lighter.

 _Beep Beep Beep_

'Come on you didn't think I would just let you die like that?' The Author spoke out of the darkness 'Our story doesn't end here mini me so get your head back in the game'

"How?" I replied though my lips would not move "I'm not a CPU so I can't take hits like them"

'Yeah well about that' The Author chuckled 'They are helping you with that and thanks to my influence here and there I've sent something to help you. This stuff won't break as easily as your previous gear'

"What is it?" I asked curiosity overtaking my thoughts.

'Not saying. It's a secret' The Author laughed 'Just stand by for a supply drop, now back to sleep you go'

With those words I slowly starting drifting off again into the darkness..

After what felt like an eternity I heard something faint but growing louder and closer. And as it got louder I could make out it was a female voice.

" _Bzzzt_ up!"

"Huh? Up?" I tried to look up I couldn't see anything, I have no idea if my head moved or not.

" _Bzzzt_ up! _Bzzzt_ up _Bzzzt_ dammit!"

Was that.. Noire? She sounded really distressed.. I need to get to her. My arms moved sluggishly but I still crawled towards her voice.

"Come on get _Bzzzzt._ I'll get you extra _Bzzzt_ if you do!"

That sounded like Neptune, her usual playful tone sounded.. Broken... They both needed my help. Pulling myself along with renewed strength I felt like I was close to their voices.

"WAKE UP!"

"WAKE UP!"

Slowly my eyes opened. The roof above me was bright white like it was still new, my nose was assaulted with various smells but one prevailed above all. Flowers... The smell that you get in hospitals.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Sounds like I've been hooked up to a heart monitor and its sudden urgency is probably showing I'm awake. Suddenly two dark shapes came into view, one had long dark hair while the others had purple hair. Their eyes were slightly puffy and I could see tear tracks on them.

"Kept you waiting huh?" I managed to say through the oxygen mask over my face.

This caused both smiles and fresh tears to track down their face as they both hugged me at the same time. Reaching up I managed to pat their backs as my arms wouldn't go any higher than that. "I don't mean to be rude but maybe you girls should call a nurse so they can give me a check up" with a slight nod Noire pressed a small button beside me and within minutes the queen of ditzy fan service arrived.

"Ah you're awake!" Compa almost shouted in joy before rushing over and ushering the girls oh of the way to start checking over me, removing my oxygen mask so I could speak easier. "You've healed rather well all things considered"

"How long have I been out?" Deciding it was best to not freak her out that I already knew her name.

"Four weeks" Neptune spoke up from behind Compa as she checked my temperature.

"Damn..." I muttered before I remembered something. "Ah I missed Plutia's party!"

"Not really, she was distraught when she heard the news that you were put in a coma so it was put on hold" Noire smiled softly, wiping away a tear.

"A coma? Don't people usually stay in that for a hell of a lot longer than 4 weeks?" I tried to sit up but Compa simply pushed me back down.

"Normally yes but we helped in speeding up the progress.." Noire trailed off so I looked at her, noting how she looked slightly nervous.

"What did you do?" I asked looking between Neptune and Noire.

"Well we sort of linked with you while you were out" Neptune started scratching the back of her head "It was Histoire's idea really so you would be linked to the share energy"

"Meaning?" I asked still confused.

"You're currently linked with my sharicite and Neptune's" Noire summed up. "That's why all of your wounds have healed without a trace and well..."

She picked up a mirror and held it so it reflected my face. In my right eye I could see a faint purple power symbol and in my left a white power symbol like Black Hearts hair.

"That is... Awesome!" I smiled blinking and see if they were still there.

I heard some grumbling and saw Noire hand Neptune some money "Did you girls make a bet on me?"

"It was whether or not you would freak out over your eyes" Neptune beamed "Noire thought you would freak out"

"I'm going to give you small adrenaline shot so you'll be able to move by yourself but don't push yourself too much today. Your body will still need time to heal" Compa said before a small needle was pushed into my skin and I suddenly felt like I hadn't been completely destroyed by a dragon.

Pushing myself up slowly I looked down at my clothing to find I didn't have any top on. And I had lost weight and gained some muscle? "The hell?"

"Um.. Side affect of doing that you kinda got pushed into peak condition" Noire mumbled looking away while Neptune openly stared.

"While I'm not complaining a bit of warning before you made me a model would of been preferred" I replied looking over my body. I didn't have a six pack or really evident muscle I could see my arms were looking tougher and my chest had less flab to it. "Crap I might start enjoying this"

There was a brief pause as I looked up too see all of them looking at me before all except Neptune looked away again.

"Can I put some clothes on so you girls can concentrate?" I raised an eyebrow and smiled as Noire fumble around in a bag behind her before putting some clothes onto my bed and with the help of Compa pulled Neptune out.

With a chuckle I reached into the bag and started pulling the clothing on only to realise when I picket up the black and white bomber jacket that I was looking a hell of a lot like James Heller from Prototype 2. Except less of the mutation power and more of the CPU link kind.

Taking a deep breath I stepped out of the room and saw Noire and Neptune standing just to my right so I moved over to them.

"You look good" Noire commented.

"My thanks darling" I winked at her.

"So is it true you kissed Noire on her cheek?" Neptune blurted out causing Noore to squeak in shock and cover Neptune's mouth.

"I wonder who told you that" I raised an eye brow at Noire's increasing blush "Yes I did. Want me to prove it?"

Neptune nodded quickly before Noire could stop her. So deciding to go with the flow I kissed Noire on the cheek again, causing her to freeze up like she did the first time.

"Aw so cute!" Neptune giggled an turned away her hands on her hips as she started going on about how she knew we would get together but I was barely listening. I could see she was pretty jealous and a bit upset, it was so obvious even I could see it so with a shrug and a prayer to the lords of YOLO. I kissed her cheek too.

The effect was instant, she blushed, span around and lost her footing so she fell on er butt.

"W-wha!?" She almost squeaked as Noire giggled at her shock.

"Like I said before I'm not making anything official yet. So I'm open for anyone Miss I'm jealous at all the attention Noire gets" I chuckled as she froze up again an started blushing some more. "Shall we get out of here? We don't want to disturb the pairings and everyone else is probably worried"

So after Neptune got up we left the hospital, giving a short wave and thank you to Compa as we left. Looking around I could see we were in Planeptune.

"So after I hit the ground how long did it take for you girls to kill that dragon?" I asked looking around taking in the calm atmosphere of Planeptune.

"Um.. Well it didn't take long" Neptune chuckles nervously

"You all went nuts huh?" I raised an eyebrow as Neptund nodded fiercely

"For good reason!" Noire protested.

"Don't worry I'm not mad" I chuckled patting Noire on the head "Just glad to be alive"

"Well duh" Neptune smirked "The party is going to be amazing!"

"Plutia and her lot are all still here?" I asked.

"No they all went back to their dimension after the first week and we just need to send a message to them" Noire replied

"Blanc and Vert? Have they gone back to their nations?"

"Yes but they will be here within a few minutes when they find out you are awake and moving"

"Well we don't have to tell them just yet, let's wait till tomorrow or something that way I can be fully healed when they arrive"

"Oh? You aren't just saying that to spend more time with us?" Neptune spoke up with a sly grin.

"Who? Me? Never! I would never do something like that" I winked at her

"How very forward of you. Planning to change this into an M rated story now?" Neptune giggled as I stumbled upon hearing that.

"Nope that's not happening Nep" I grumbled looking away feeling my cheeks heat up slightly.

We soon entered the Basilacom we were greeted by a very excited Nepgear and by greet I mean she almost went flying past us while she tried to apply the brakes. If you couldn't guess she was transformed and went too fast in her excitement.

"Ah you're okay!" She exclaimed, beaming.

"Yeah just about. Try not to hit me though" I chuckled "I'm still on unsteady feet"

"I-I wasn't going too!" Nepgear protested shaking her head rapidly.

"I know I'm just messing with you" I chuckled before patting her on the head.

"I had to a least tell Nep junior as you're gonna be staying here for a while" Neptune spoke up from behind me.

"I am?" I asked looking back at Neptune.

"Yeah you can't go back to Lastation in your current condition" she nodded "It was my idea really"

"Compa told you that I had to stay here didn't she?" I raised an eyebrow as she looked shocked

"Did linking with you give you the power to read minds and look into our pasts!?" Neptune gasped

"No it was just really obvious" I responded lightly poking her nose

"Um... What do you mean by linking?" Nepgear spoke up, cocking her head to the side. Why is it all girls do that when they are confused it's just too cute dammit.

"Let's go up to the Basilacom. I'll explain there" I sighed heading towards the elevator when Nepgear stopped me.

"Um the elevators are broken" she called out from beside the stairs

"Why?" I started walking over already dreading going up those stairs.

"Plutia was a little mad that you were left in such a state and she couldn't as she said "punish those for harming you" so she accidentally broke it" Nepgear chuckled nervously as I could almost see a pissed Iris Heart tearing apart anything that got in her way.

"That explains one. There are two elevators" I pointed out.

"Neptune got bored" Nepgear replied causing me to look at Neptune and raise an eyebrow in question.

"Historie has banned all of us from entering any dungeon till you awoke as she thinks something suspicious is happening right now" Neptune rubbed the back of her head with an awkward smile on her face. "So I got a little too excited when Histore had an idea to heal you quicker"

"Real smooth Neptune" Getting up to the stairs I looked between them all to see an almost endless set of stairs. "Oh fuck that. Time skip Neptune?"

"Would be best" She nodded sadly as we started trudging up the stairs.

-20 minuets later-

"Finally at the top!" Nepgear cheered as she walked into the room. Noire behind her only looking a bit out of breath. Me and Neptune on the other hand we were still crawling up the last set of stairs.

"It... hurts" I managed to say between ragged breaths.

Neptune could only nod as we reached the same floor as Noire and Nepgear, crawling over to a bean bag we simply lay there slowly falling asleep from exhaustion when Noire poured a cup of ice cold water down both of our backs; causing us to jolt awake and dance around trying to get the ice out.

"What was that for!?" I shouted as I finally got the last ice cube out.

"You need to explain to Nepgear what it means now me and Neptune are linked to you" she replied pointing at Nepgear as she sat on a chair.

"It would be better if I explained it" Histoire's spoke up floating over to the four of us.

"I can go back to sleep then" I smiled closing my eyes before I felt fresh ice cubes go down my back "Ok! Ok! I'll stay awake!"

Histoire's cleared her throa for a second before she began to explain everything "As you are now linked to not only Planeptune's sharicite and Lastation sharicite so you, like the CPU and CPU candidates you won't take any permanent damage from attacks from attacks but that is the limit to what you have access too. Or it would be if you were not linked to two seperate power sources. It is unknown how much power you have now as this has never happened before"

There was a brief pause as my brain attempted to take in what she said.

"So... I'm like Nepgear but weaker?" I asked "and I'm the first to ever do this?"

"To your first question we don't know how much power you could have. You could by all rights be as strong as a CPU candidate but unable to transform or just even stronger than what a normal link would give" Histore nodded to herself. "And to the second you are. Before links have been temporary and used in times of war so a champion could be as red to fight if a goddess was not allowed. Not only is yours a permanent link but a double link"

"I'm so hoping I'm like a CPU candidate" I chuckled leaning back and stretching.

"Um I have a question" Nepgear raised a hand timidly "Nepgear is my sister but what would that make Thomas?"

Now I would say there was a pause but it was more our brains having to slowly contemplate what the correct answer would be.

"How bout I leave it to you to decide on what your calling me? I'm not too good at this stuff" I chuckled.

"Okay well we should run some tests to see what level of power you actually have" Neptune bounced up and started hopping around in excitement.

"You... aren't turning into a mad scientist about this are you Nepgear?" I asked her worried for my life.

"Me? No I'm just interested in the power my half brother has" Nepgears eyes seemed to be infused with a purple flame.

"I'm not going to come out o this the same am I?" I muttered getting up and following behind her.

"No I don't think you will" Noire replied watching me go. "Should I help him?"

"No we'll need to know before we can send him out on missions again" Histoire replied but at this point I can barely hear them as I followed Nepgear down the steps and into a dark room. In the centre sat a massive steel chair.

"Please sit down" Nepgear chuckled darkly indicating to the chair.

"All of my instincts are telling me to flee" I muttered. "But for the sake of this Fanfiction I shall find out my power"


	12. Chapter 12

"See? You're fine" Nepgear beamed with pride as I managed to pull myself off the chair.

"Right now I am but how long until side effects start kicking in?" I retorted rubbing my arm where she had removed some of my blood.

The tests she made mainly required my blood to make various tests on. At one point she start laughing manically so it was all but confirmed that she was turning into a mad scientist.

"You'll be fine" she repeated with the same happy, but slightly insane, smile on her face as we went back upstairs.

"Ah you're back!" Neptune called out as she spotted us "and you're not missing any limbs or anything!"

"Thanks for the support Neptune" I replied sitting in a free seat. "No really. Your kindness knows no bounds"

"Enough you two" Noire interrupted before this turned into a fully fledged riot between each of us. But she was still smiling. "So what are the results Nepgear?"

"He does seem to have a lot of power" Nepgear replied taking a seat on a free beanbag. "Almost as much as a CPU candidate but only difference being his level"

"What is my level?" I asked looking at her confused.

"Level one" She smiled apologetically as Neptune burst out laughing.

"He's the weakest out of our party!" She managed to say between laughing.

"Then how come I was able to whoop Neptune's ass before then?" I asked while lightly shoving Neptune off her chair.

"I can only assume you weren't part of our world fully then so you were only as strong as you could of been with the equipment you had. Now you are living by our worlds rules so you have to level up if you want to get stronger" Histoire explained while drinking some tea.

"Well there is something else though" Nepgear spoke up. "Due to his link between both Lastation and Planeptune he has a unique ability that no-one else has. Well no-one we know of at least"

"And that ability is?" Noire asked leaning closer so she doesn't miss hearing what Nepgear has to say.

"Like when we go HDD we have unique weapons attributed with them. He has the ability to use his energy to craft weapons" Nepgear announced. "He is able to, in theory, craft any weapon he desires"

There was a brief pause while everyone took that in.

"It seems my fanboying has finally gotten a positive to it" I spoke up.

"We need to test this" Noire said.

"To the dogoo plains!" Neptune shouted as she dashed down the stairs.

"God dammit Neptune" I muttered following behind her with Nepgear and Noire hot on my heels. Histoire just sat on her book and drank more tea.

-15 minutes of running later-

"We are here!" Nepgear shouted out.

"How come when you are going up stairs you are dying but when you are running through a city and out onto these plains you are as spry as a spring chicken?" I asked panting slightly.

"Because exciting new things!" Neptune replied "Now set the scene!"

Fine. Before us lay an ocean of emerald grass. The wind making them twitch and dance in its embrace. And as the name suggests dogoo's were everywhere. Bouncing and rolling all about the place.

"There happy now?" I replied looking down at Neptune.

"Not yet" she replied before in a flash she was now Purple Heart. Standing at the same height as me "Now I am"

"You ever thought of growing up? The adult you is bigger in every way compared to little you" I commented only slightly salty that she did that so I didn't have the height advantage against her.

"I can't grow up" Purple Heart replied "I'm ageless so I'll stay small"

"That's boring and such a killjoy" I replied before turning to Nepgear as Purple Heart turned to argue with me. "So any tips on doing this creation thingy?"

"Um... Concentrate on whatever weapon you want to replicate first then... will it to happen I guess" she replied.

"Ok. Well can you two find a different spot for this?" I looked at Noire and Purple Heart.

"Why?" Noire asked.

"I want to be able to practise without you two watching me" I replied.

Seeming to understand what I meant Noire pulled Purple Heart away to do something else.

"Should I leave too?" Nepgear asked confused.

"Nah my little sister wouldn't freak out over this like how Neptune would" I replied before thinking on Black Hearts weapon and Purple Hearts. While they were both good in their own senses I couldn't see myself using exact replicas of them. So why not try something unique? I am the main hero of this story after all and I should make my own unique weapons.

So I decided I would base it on Neptune's weapon. But shortened it down so it was more like a short sword; then, using a very handy copy and paste tool plus a colour pallet, I pictured a replica of the first one but this one with all the purple parts being made white and the rest black. So now there were two short swords of different colours but similar origins, they were in a sense twin Tanto's.

"Now just will this thing to appear" I muttered holding my hands out and closing my eyes. At first I could feel something in my hands and just as I thought it was done I took a peek and saw that a dogoo had glomped onto my hands. There was a pause as I looked down at it and it just hung there looking back up at me, with my hands in its mouth.

"Really?" I stated as Nepgear released a short giggle.

"You're making a weapon not feeding a dogoo!" I heard Purple Heart shout and I turned to see that both her and Noire were peeking over a hill.

With a sigh I tried flinging it off but it let out a determined growl and held on.

"Get off you little-" flailing around I managed to dislodge it, sending it soaring out into the plains where it bounced a couple times before coming to a rest among its dogoo brethren.

"Well that was a thing" I said. "Let's hope they are not like wolves from Minecraft or we are going to be in trouble"

Turns out they are. And with one howl they started bouncing towards us. Slowly as they were not exactly the fastest of monsters but it was still kind of intimidating to see them all bouncing towards me.

"I've made a terrible mistake huh?" I turned to a now armed Nepgear.

"A slight miscalculation" she replied with a nervous smile as Purple Heart and Black Heart jumped down in front of us.

"You need to hurry up and make a weapon" Black Heart half shouted to be heard over the horde of dogoo's.

"I know give me a moment!" I shouted back as Purple Heart and Black Heart jumped into the horde cutting as many as they can down.

"You've got to believe in yourself!" Nepgear shouted cutting at the dogoo's who got to close before one jumped onto her ,pushing her to the ground causing her to be buried under many more.

"Don't believe in yourself!" I heard Purple Heart shouted and I knew what she was about to say next. "Believe in me! Believe in the Neptune who believes in you!"

"God dammit with these references..." I couldn't help but smile and try again, willing the swords into life.

"Your swords will pierce the horde!" I heard Purple Hearts voice but couldn't see her with all the dogoo's just swarming everyone.

"You're reading between the lines of dialogue again Neptune!" I shouted back before finally I felt the swords were just on the edge of being brought into reality. So putting my hands by my hips I mimed pulling them out and they did. With a burst of light the blades came into life, the twin blades hummed with energy as I twirled them around for a moment.

"Sweet. Now then..." I trailed off looking at the horde of dogoo's and assuming a ready stance. "I think it's time for you all to play dead"

Looking at the closest lump sticking out of the floor I started swiping at the surface of the dogoo's removing them until it revealed Nepgears hand. After throwing one of my swords into the ground beside me, impaling a dogoo, I grabbed her hand and managed to pull her out of her makeshift tomb of dogoo's.

"Two swords?" She asked as she managed to retrieve her sword and switch it back on.

"Just perfect for me" I replied with a smirk as I picked up my second blade and we started cutting into the horde of dogoo's again but this time towards the others.

Stepping back for a moment to take a moment to breath I looked behind me to see the dogoo's poofing into pixels. "What's up with that? The monsters didn't do that before I was sent into a coma"

"No idea why!" Nepgear manages to reply after cutting down another dogoo. "That used to happen before you came here just as quickly as they are doing now but it suddenly took longer when you arrived. I assume this is because you are no longer an anomaly in our dimension so things have started going back to normal!"

I vaguely understood what she said so I just nodded an jumped back into the fray. Soon enough we reached Purple Heart and Black Heart. While the latter was looking more and more annoyed with every dogoo coming her way, the former was on her back and was being licked by the dogoo's and was giggling uncontrollably from it.

"Oh.. My... God stop!" She managed to say between laughing.

"Neptune stop laughing and help me kill these things!" Black Heart shouted cutting down another dogoo who jumped her way and grabbing another, throwing it back into the horde.

"Your rescue has arrived!" I shouted still cutting through the horde. "Me and Nepgear! Mainly Nepgear as she's a higher level but I'm here too!"

It still took a long time to eventually reach the two of them but we did it and with the help o both of them we began to push the horde back and the dogoo's, seeing that they were losing many of their original number, decided to retreat.

As we watched them go I felt someone slump against me. Looking to where they were I could see Purple Heart looking extremely tired.

"Did you see how they were torturing me? It was horrible" she whined apparently giving up on standing on her own two feet.

"Horrible huh?" I raised an eyebrow at her "you looked like you were enjoying yourself back there"

"I was not!" She protested, moving her head slightly so she could look at me with one of her eyes. "It was hell. I'm extremely ticklish"

"So I noticed" I replied before managing to turn to Nepgear with Purple Heart still leaning on me. "So how are my levels looking now?"

In response to that she brought up a small device an pointed it might way. After a moment a text window popped up facing her. Sadly I couldn't read it from behind.

"You've gone up quite a few levels now" she replied "your level 15 now"

"Well it's a start. Now you can take me on some missions and not have to worry about me getting completely destroyed" I replied "Wait how long have we been out here?"

"A couple hours" Black Heart spoke up before she changed back into being Noire "We should probably get something to eat before Neptune implodes"

Right on cue Neptune went back to normal but clung onto me like a cat would if it was hanging on a curtain.

"Per chance do you want me to carry you back?" I asked.

"Yup!" She grinned "now let go get something to eat!"

So we did. It didn't take long to reach the city walls again and find a place to eat, soon after we started heading back to the Basilacom. But apparently Neptune had a different plan and had told or at least implied it to the others. I, on the other hand, had absolutely no idea what was going on until in a flash, literally and figuratively, Neptune transformed and carried me off. Noire and Nepgear sent me off with a quick wave and telling Neptune to get back here before it got too dark.

"Neptune what the fuck are you doing!?" I shouted over the wind.

"Taking you somewhere!" Purple Heart shouted back.

"Normally I would say fair enough but a bit of warning next time!" I shouted back.

"I'll try to remember but no promises" she replied with a grin as we continued our flight.

Forests and mountains flew by underneath us as we went but eventually we started slow long down, as below us lay a field of white flowers. Purple Heart gently set me down on the flowers before dropping down beside me.

"No offence but why are we here?" I asked looking around "but I have to admit this place is beautiful and calm"

"We are here because..." Purple Heart trailed off which caught my attention. Looking to where she was I saw that she was sitting down amongst the flowers. "I wanted to take you here"

"So a date?" I smiled as I sat beside her. Our shoulders occasionally touching.

"Something like that yeah" she replied with her own smile. "So tell me what is adult me like?"

"Adult you?"

"Yeah you said she was bigger than me in everyway"

"Well that is true yeah"

"So what is she like?"

"Hmm... She like you now, looks like Purple Heart in everyway. Height etc. But still has the same cute personality of you. A joker who cares about her friends but will still tease them"

There was a pause between us before Purple Heart looked at me.

"Were you serious?" She asked. Any evidence of a smile on her face was removed quickly.

"About what?" I could feel the very air had changed along with the mood of the conversation.

"About being free? Not making anything official or taking anything serious" she replied "I don't want to waste my feelings on someone who lies about something important to me"

"I'm not lying" I replied, patting her head gently "currently I'm open to anyone but to be honest I'm really only interested in you and Noire. So until I can decide, if I can at all, I'm just a single man who wants to be in a relationship"

"I'll accept that answer" she smiled before she reached up and kissed me on the cheek causing me to freeze up "and that is revenge for when you did that to me"

"Sounds fair" I chuckled and a sly grin crossed her face.

"You sound disappointed. Were you hoping for something a bit more intimate? Like a kiss on the lips?" She purred. Apparently she had been taking lessons from Iris Heart on reading emotions and how to be very flirty.

"I am going to invoke my right to remain silent" I mumbled taking a sudden interest in the flower surrounding us. Have you noticed how pretty they are? So white and innocent... Not like the goddess sitting next to me.

"Maybe I'll give you one a few chapters down the line" she chuckled getting up and holding out a hand. "Come on we need to get back to the Basilacom if we don't want Histy to get mad at us for staying out for too long"

Taking her hand we started off towards the Basilacom again but this time I wasn't complaining about us flying. But how we have to contact Vert and Blanc tomorrow. Oh well these next few days look like it's going to be good and interesting. But I wonder... The Author said something about a supply drop. When that appears and what it will be I can only guess.


	13. Chapter 13

So the morning was definitely an interesting one.

With the guest rooms being finally fixed by Nepgear, Uni and Linda I did have a place to stay. Only problem being; flying so fast seems to have completely drained Neptune. And a tired Neptune usually just does stuff and thinks about it when she has woken up.

So she decided to spend the night in my room with me and I had no say in the matter.

So when I woke up in the morning to be greeted by Neptune's sleeping face a couple inches away from mine it was a bit of a shock. Apparently the pillow wall I made to keep her on one side of the bed had been defeated and she had snuggled up to me how Plutia probably snuggles up to her plushies.

Then I heard the door open and in walked Nepgear. Apparently she had been looking for Neptune but found her. Just not in the place she thought.

There was a momentary pause as I looked at her, trying to send her a silent plea for help but instead she pulled out her phone and took a picture before leaving silently. A big grin on her face. Apparently she took after her sister.

And now we have reached the present. Me still stuck in bed with Neptune holding me prisoner.

"Neptune" I whispered in her ear, causing her to mumble something and hug me tighter "we have to get up"

"Why?" She replied looking up at me with half asleep eyes.

"Because Nepgear just took a picture of us and probably has already told the other girls to come over now to see us like this" I replied.

There was a brief pause before her eyes widened in shock and she pushed me out of bed. Landing with a heavy _thud!_ I looked up at her angrily. "What was that for!?"

"I needed to get up and you were holding me down" she replied defensively jumping up onto her feet and looking at me as I got up.

"This is the last time I'm going to hug you till you sleep" I replied salty picking my jacket off the back of a chair I had threw it on last night as we entered.

"That's not fair!" She whined before jumping on me "Take it back!"

"Get off!"

"No take it back!"

In our little argument I had unwillingly walked backwards into the door and we had managed to pull the handle down with our scuffle. Resulting in the both of us falling out onto the floor but instead of the usual pain of falling on the floor it was soft and someone else cried out in pain.

"Was that Noire?" I asked Neptune.

"Yup. Sounds like Blanc and Vert were there too" Neptune replied finally stopping her assault on my head.

"Morning you two" I heard Vert say from under us. "Could you get off? You are pinning us down here"

"What do you think Neppy?" I looked up and could just see her face and she looked deep in thought before a grin split across her face.

"No this is punishment for listening into our room" Neptune replied and so I knew we weren't going to be getting up for a while.

"Oh look it's a dog pile on sis!" I heard a very young voice call out. I'm pretty sure that was Ram. "let's join in Rom!"

"Yeah!" Came another young reply. Apparently the two of them had come round too along with Blanc. I managed to get a glimpse of them before they threw themselves on us resulting in a couple pained groans from the girls beneath us.

"Should we join in Gear?" I heard Uni ask.

"Probably" I heard the reply before some of the weight was lifted off us then it and more jumped on us.

"My ribs are going to give way here!" I managed to groan. "Get off!"

"No!" Ram replied "We just got on after Gear moved us onto the top!"

I have the worst mornings... Time skip please...

-10 minuets later-

"Now can we get on with the day without someone else crushing us?" Blanc almost growled.

In the end Blanc lost it and threw us all off. And then proceeded to lecture all the girls who joined in then me and Neptune for starting this all even though it technically wasn't our fault the other girls jumped on us.

"It would be appreciated" I replied rubbing my damaged ribs. I know I won't take any permanent damage now but it still really hurts when you have four girls piled on you. I can only image the pain Blanc, Noire and Vert felt.

"So what is the plan for today?" Neptune spoke up, she was currently laying on a beanbag.

"We could play games" Vert suggested.

"I so knew you would say that" I spoke up "Though it is a good plan"

"Anyway petty comments aside we couldn't really" Blanc, the voice of reason and logic, spoke up "we wouldn't have enough controllers for everyone to join in with"

"I should probably practice making more weapons so it doesn't take as long next time" I spoke up "So I'm going to go do it in the training arena"

"Alright maybe we'll join you later" Noire replied

"Up to you girls. Later" with a short wave good bye I left the room and entered the elevator and just as I was about to press the button someone pushed in after me. "Hey careful!"

"Excuse me? You should be glad my big sister told us to go train too" I heard a very annoyed Ram shout out.

"We are very sorry for barging in but we didn't want to take the stairs" Rom spoke up. She was like a still lake compared to Ram. Calm and composed. Not aggresive and firey.

"Looks like I'm on baby sitting duty" I thought pressing the button to go down to the ground floor.

After a brief moment we reached the floor and I walked out deciding there was no point rushing to the training arena when Ram flew past.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" She half shouted over her shoulder.

"Ram come back we have to stay by Mr Thomas!" Rom called after her before chasing after Ram.

Mr Thomas? What am I? A fucking character from Narnia? Deciding it was best to follow after them unless I wanted to get in trouble with Blanc I set off at a jog, just so I can keep them both in view. Didn't want to look too worried.

"Ha! You're a rotten egg!" Ram shouted pointing at me and laughing as I entered the arena.

"Yeah whatever Ram just you do your training over there and I'm going to do my thing over here" I walked over to my self assigned area, closed my eyes and started concentrating on the twin blades again when I felt someone nudge me.

"Um Mr Thomas?" I heard Rom speak up so I opened my eyes and looked down at her.

"What's up Rom?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Big sister always watches us train as it helps us concentrate when someone is watching" she replied nervously.

"Fine I'll watch but I'll be practising my own thing at the same time" I sighed now knowing exactly why Blanc sent those two with me.

"Thank you! Okay we can start now Ram!" Rom quickly ran back to her sister, beaming with joy.

Ram on the other hand didn't look too pleased.

"Ugh why him? He's not even paying full attention!" She complained and it was true. I was currently trying to master forming the twin blades first before either combining them both into one katana similar in look to Neptune's only with the purple edge staying purple and the rest being white. Or just forming the katana from scratch.

"He has to practice too if he wants to be of help" Rom replied defensively. At this point I was actually getting the hang of imagining the twin blades (I gotta think of a name for those soon) so I was able to concentrate a bit more on what Rom and Ram were doing.

"Whatever let's just do it" Ram replied before she quickly transformed followed by Rom.

Soon they began flying around the place and casting what I could only assume were various spells. While some of those spells took a few tries to actually cars they were able to do them eventually.

"So what are you girls practising? Beside casting spells" I asked brining my dual blades out to again, quicker than I did last time and then dispelling them to start again.

"None of your business!" Ram shouted at me.

"Big sister told us to practise casting spells on the move as we both usually stand still and do it. Apparently it leaves us as a bigger target" Rom explained helpfully.

"Rom!" Ram exclaimed in annoyance.

"So casting spells while under pressure huh?" I muttered.

"You couldn't help us anyway" Ram growled "You are swinging chunks of metal around just fine"

"Ouch, show some respect to the people who take the hits so you girls don't have to take them" I replied, feeling my pride damaged slightly at that remark.

"Spell casters are always better than people who use hand to had combat anyway" Ram continued on regardless if she heard me "We can stop you in so many ways before you even reach us. Only our sister and her friends are better as they are the CPU's and we are only candidates"

Ah it was this age old argument. Between melee fighters and magic users. I'm pretty sure this argument has started wars by now and I'm not just talking flame wars in forums.

"Is that your problem with me?" I crossed my arms. "Because I swing swords and you cast spells? If so, that is really petty"

"My problem" Ram growled flying over and hovering of the floor so she didn't have to look up at me. "Is that while you were in that coma staying all snuggled up and happy with people fussing over you my sister has been worried sick about you and if you died how Neptune and Nore would take it"

"So you are blaming me for being in a coma even though it wasn't my fault?" I replied arching an eyebrow. Whenever I played Neptunia I never really liked this girl. She was way too aggresive towards everyone if they did not listen to her. "News flash kiddo I didn't ask to be put in a coma and it sure as hell wasn't fun being put into that coma"

"You were roughened up a bit so what? You're now permanently linked to Planeptune and Lastation" she spat back, in the background I could hear Rom was trying to calm us both down but I have had enough with Ram's tone and how she thinks she was always in the right.

"I was hit by a dragon which broke a load of my bones and also set on fire by the same dragon" I growled glaring back at her "Unlike now I wasn't going to be perfectly fine after that. I would of died if Noire and Neptune didn't do what they did; if I survived I would of probably been left paralysed. Probably in a state where I could not of even taken care of myself. If I could of healed fully I would be left in that hospital for a very long time"

This slowly sank in as she was silent for a while and Rom quietened down as she could tell the argument was over.

"As for your practise you need to have real pressure for what you girls are doing. I'd advise one of you chased the other to simulate a monster that could keep up with you. That might help" Turning away I walked over to the other side of the arena to fume in private while still practising creating weapons.

It was a long time before someone spoke up, I wasn't keeping track of time but the sun was high in the sky when someone finally spoke up and I was already trying to make the katana now.

"Um... Mr Thomas?" Rom asked from behind me. "Big sister is here and she wants to speak with you"

"Oh for fu-" Catching myself I took a deep breath and turned patting Rom on the head gently. "Thank you Rom I'll go see her now"

Walking across the arena Ram was surprisingly quiet as I passed by and up the steps to stand in front of the waiting Blanc.

"So." She said as I came to a stop.

"So?" I replied feigning confusing.

"What was that all about?" She crossed her arms looking up at me

"I have no idea what you're on about" I tried to say but Blanc wasn't buying it.

"We all saw what happened from up in the Basilacom. Tell me what that was about or you'll be training with me from now on" She threatened and I could guess that she wasn't the type to go easy on people even in training.

"Just a little disagreement" I replied leaning against a pole "she said a few things I replied with other things"

"Care to go into detail?"

"Nope"

"No?"

"No. I think snitching on her isn't the best way to make up for this"

"I'll ask her too you know"

"Go for it. You can tell her that I am not going to spill the beans on what happened"

"You know, you're awefully cocky after what happened while speaking to their big sister"

"It's my personal charm. Also I don't think you are as pissed as you are acting. If you were I would still be pulling myself out of the wall on the border of Lastation"

With a chuckle she nodded "True enough. I'll leave it to you two to sort this out but Thomas?"

"Yeah?" I asked but I could already guess what she was going to say next as the air turned to ice.

"If you hurt my sisters in going to put you in another coma got it?" She growled.

"Ouch, too soon. But yeah I get it" I shivered before walking past her.

"Where are you going?" She asked watching me go.

"Back upstairs. Now that you are down here you can look after your sisters" After pressing the button on the elevator to take me to the top floor I watched as Blanc's face turned to one of pure horror but before she could do anything the doors had closed and the elevator shot upwards to the top of the Basilacom.

"I have a feeling I've just made a terrible mistake" I muttered.

'Probably' The Author snickered

"So about this "supply drop" you mentioned" I leaned against the wall as we kept going up. "When will it arrive?"

"Couple chapters from now. By the way the doors are opening now" The Author replied as the doors opened before I could brace myself.

So to set the scene all the girls were in various poses and... In various states of undressing.

Yeah... This was happening.

Apparently they thought I would be practising for longer so they must of decided to try on clothing I would presume. Or they were having an underwear party.

If you know elevators they let out a lovely _ding!_ When you have reached your floor it's usually really nice listening too. Currently I was hating that _ding!_ With every fibre of my being as it just gave away I was in the elevator and they all turned to face me with smiles at first, thinking it was Blanc, but then noticed me standing there with my face slowly turning redder by the second.

There was an awkward pause that only lasted for a moment but felt like eternity.

"Wrong floor! Later bye!" Slamming the button to close the door I just saw them all kick off towards me as the doors fully closed but soon after a spear pierced through the door like it was nothing.

"I think they may be mad" I shuddered as the spear pulled back.

I saw an eye peer through the hole the spear had left and in that eye I could see the end of my life and I was not ready for deaths sweet embrace.

Pressing the button to go down to the ground floor I managed to take a few unsteady breaths.

"You are not about to get away!" I heard someone shout before a sword broke through the ceiling of the box.

Looking up in fear I could see the furious face of Purple Heart with Green Heart and Black Heart right behind her. Thankfully Nepgear and Uni weren't in the room so they weren't out to kill me too.

Pressing a button to open the doors the elevator came to a shuddering stop on one of the floors and just as Purple Hearts arm reached in to grab me I squeezed past the opening doors and kicked off.

Next chapter is going to be very painful. Especially if they manage to catch me before I can either lose them or outrun them.


	14. Chapter 14

"It's always good to run a decent distance everyday as it keeps you fit, healthy and helps you lose weight"

Those were the words my friend told me in the past in a bid to get me exercising. Well currently I am running but less for getting fit and more for survival. For those who may of forgotten why I shall remind you.

Coming up from practice in the elevator I was greeted by a beautiful but dangerous sight. The girls were in the middle of changing and I had caught them in various states of undress, these girls were Noire, Neptune and Vert to be specific.

So now they want to murder, dismember and destroy me. Not in that order.

Taking a sharp corner I use a convenient pipe to swing myself round and continue on without losing any speed. The girls came flying, literally, round the corner and were still gaining on me no matter how fast I ran.

Running into the stairwell I vaulted over a short bar and after jumping down the stairs to the next platform I started running down that corridor.

Pumping my arms furiously in a fruitless attempt to run faster I shot down the corridor without risking looking behind me for fear that they were right behind me.

"Those stairwells are my only chance for getting some distance between me and them" I thought desperately taking corners as fast as I could.

Feeling confident that I had managed to put some distance between us I looked behind me to see Black Heart starting to swing her sword at me, a look of pure murder on her face. Who would of guessed that girls get really pissed if you see them in their underwear?

Managing to jump forward I felt the tip of her blade nick my back with the tip and it felt like fire had spread through my system.

"Stop it!" I half shouted half cried out in pain as I stumbled and started running again.

"No! You need to repent!" Black Heart shouted back as she started her chase again. Green Heart behind her but I couldn't see where Purple Heart had gotten too.

As I neared the stairwell I felt something pull me back slightly and I can guess that was The Author as a spear buried itself where my head was originally, leaving the wall it was buried in heavily cracked.

Quickly jumping down the stairs again I started off again before I remembered when I saw Black Heart and Green Heart. Where was Purple Heart?

Suddenly with an almighty crash Purple Heart broke through the roof and grabbed me by my shirt before I could dodge her.

"Uh hey darling you're looking amazing today?" I tried but the animalistic growl I got back told me I was still in trouble and no amount of flattery and flirting would save me.

She reeled her arm back before whipping it forward, letting go at the optimal point to launch me through the window.

"That girl seriously needs to play baseball or something" I thought as I continued on my journey through the sky. "Hey wait wasn't this like in my story "Shadow of Ash"? Just Purple Heart is throwing me not a weird monster creature"

I also noticed that unlike the creature Purple Heart thrown me over the wall surrounding Planeptune which was a hell of a lot further than that creature in "Shadow of Ash" threw that version of me.

Suddenly my whole world suddenly started flipping and spinning without control and I managed to catch a glimpse of the top of a mountain. The tip looked like it had been smashed off so it would be accurate to say I had hit the tip of that mountain.

Eventually after many more collisions with different objects I came to a screeching halt in a forest, tearing up a furrow among the dirt, grass and trees.

Slowly getting up I examined my surroundings. The forest I crashed into was dark and I don't mean no lights on dark. It was like a cave everywhere but where I was standing. No light penetrated the canopy and I could hear the faint sounds of birds, they sounded an awfully lot like crows back on Earth.

Deciding that the best path was to go forward, instead of trying to climb the mountain, I set off carefully minding where I put my feet. Didn't want to fall into a trap when I don't have anyone to help me as the girls had thrown me so far away and so fast I doubt they will find me anytime soon.

-30 minuets of walking later-

"Okay seriously? This forest is like the never ending staircase in Mario 64" I muttered, pulling myself over a large root sprouting from the ground.

"Halt!" I hear someone shout and I froze up looking for the source of the voice. The voice sounded feminine but traps may be a thing in this world.

"And you are?"

"I shall ask the questions!" The voice retorted, I still could not locate the exact location of the voice. "This grove is a sacred place left undisturbed until thou came along. Does thou do what thoust hast come to do from which thou comes to do what thoust must does?"

"Uh what?" I replied still trying to process what she just said

"Yes or no mother fucker?" She replied with a growl.

"Yes?" I replied confused "I don't even know what I've come to do"

"Of course that ist to be expected of ye" The voice replied but closer, pivoting round quickly I was greeted by a girl. She looked about my age, I'm eighteen, and had white skin with dark green eyeshadow. Her eyes were of a similar shade of green and her hair... Yeah you get the picture. "I am Caroline Birch"

"You look a hell of a lot younger than what I originally thought you would look" I blurted out before mentally slapping myself "Thomas Fletcher pleased to meet you"

"While your manners mayst be lacking you hast been awaited" Caroline replied "I am the guardian druid and the Great Tree hast requested you come and converse with it. Come"

She walked into the forest without a second word or even looking back.

"You know something tells me I've just stumbled upon a new party member" I muttered before following after her.

'What makes you say that?' The Author spoke up

"Her unique appearance. In an anime she would be my second guess at the main character / important character. First place would be the guy with spiky red hair" I replied hopping over a few roots so I got level with Caroline.

"So tell me. Howst did thou reach here? We are surrounded by high mountains" Caroline spoke up.

"I was thrown by a goddess" I replied with an awkward smile

"So howst you survive? I wouldst assume you would of died after angering a goddess" Caroline responded.

"Well first I had actually angered three goddess and I survived because I am linked to their power. That's why she threw me as if I was not linked I doubt she would of thrown me" I replied.

"That link may assist you in the challenges that may lie ahead if The Great Tree deems you worthy" Caroline replied. This woman barely seems interested in me so I stayed quiet.

After a short walk we came to a clearing where one massive and I mean massive tree stood. Branches spread out still blocking the light from touching the ground but there were no trees between us and the giant tree.

"I am the Great Tree" A thunderous voice announced "And you hast been prophesied about in the scrolls of truth"

"Um... Ok?" I replied scratching the back of my head. This was too weird for my liking.

"When the evil witch returnest a warrior wielding many blades shall appear from over the mountains and will lay waste to her captain, who hast poisoned the old forest" it announced slowly before a deep chuckle emitted from the tree. "You came from overst the mountain and the evil witch hast indeed returned. Her captain has already spread its poison among my outer trees to kill them off and erect buildings made of metal and stone"

'He said erect' The Author snickered but I chose to ignore him and think on the prophesy.

"Now all that ist needed is that you have many blades and slay the captain plaguing my forest so I may take my eternal rest" The tree grumbled.

"Pardon my interruption" Caroline spoke up "Thist boy has no weapons, only great strength and endurance"

"I take offence that you think I'm just a boy" I muttered nursing my wounded pride.

"I thinkst he truly has more weapons than he lets on" The Great Tree replied "First head to the Northern part of the forest as my trees tell me they have uncovered something my trees kept hidden for a very long time. Take it into your possession for it will aid you in your task. Then travel to the western side, where the sun rises, and you will find the evil witches captain"

"Sure" I replied still not overly confident but what the heck. I'll need something to do while the girls calmed down enough to let me come back without murdering me on the spot.

"Caroline, you will accompany him on his journey" The Great Tree continued.

"Of course it will be done" She replied. Before briskly walking in a direction "Come along warrior we must save the forest and gather the gear you require"

With a shrug I followed behind her, something tells me that "supply drop" the Author mentioned may be what the Great Tree mentioned.

-10 minuets later-

"We are here" Caroline announced crouching low among the grass.

Taking cover behind a tree I looked out to see a group of robots busy around what I could only assume was an excavation site and just coming from the hole was a robotic hand outstretched as if to grab something.

"Hey Author is this that supply drop you told me about?" I asked him counting all the robots I could see, there were only four, completely ignoring something Caroline was saying.

'Yeah.. I was going to hide it until much later but this is too perfect of a moment to reveal it' He replied 'Question is how are you going to get to it'

"The usual way, charging in" I replied before coming back into reality as Caroline was just finishing up.

"That wouldst be our best plan of attack, didst thou understand?" She asked looking at me.

"Uh no but when in doubt improvise!" I replied before dashing towards the bots as she shouted in shock and frustration.

Forming my katana I brought it down on the bots neck, cleaving it off without much trouble. Jumping towards the next one it took a couple more hits but it still died without having a chance to hit me back.

"These things must be the same level as me!" I smirked as Caroline ran up and decimated the one I was going to attack next, she wielded a scythe like it weighed nothing, easily tearing the robot apart.

The scythe looked rather similar to Ruby Rose's scythe. Only difference it was completely made of wood and the blade was glowing a slight blue colour.

"Thoust fool! These robots get stronger with every one that falls. And as that one is the last one of the four that were left around here.." She hissed before pointing at the robot as it slowly grew bigger and looked like something out of Pacific Rim.

Four. FOUR. health bars filled up and the words "mini boss" floated above its head.

"Oops" I managed to say as it punched me.

Now who here watches anime fights? Now don't be shy raise your hands. Okay so you know that scene you see sometimes when one of the characters are hit and they are launched flying through multiple trees? Yeah that is me right now. 10 trees and I'm only now slowing down.

Did I block the punch with my katana? Yes I did. Did it help? No it did not. Do I have so many regrets not listening to Bitch Birch? No I do not this is kind of fun in a non-masochistic way.

Hitting the final tree I felt it slowly collapse from the force I hit it with. I just managed to roll out of the way so it didn't crush me.

"Will thoust listen to me now?" Caroline shouted from above me so looking up I could see her infuriated face glaring at me from a short distance away.

"Yes mum what's the plan?" I replied sarcastically getting up and changing to dual swords.

"As I am the higher level I shalt sneak around it and kill it. Thoust must distract it for me" she replied and without waiting for a reply set off again.

"I really need to talk to her about agreeing on plans" I muttered before remembering that I didn't listen to her plan originally and I need to start distracting the robot.

Running out I waved my arms to catch its attention before I tried insulting it.

"Hey Tin-can its recycling day today and you need to go!" I shouted. Not my best insult but I've never insulted a robot before so cut me some slack.

It seemed to do the trick as it swung at me again. I just managed to skip to the side and dig the blades into its arm as it passed by.

Now I don't know if you've grabbed a train as its moving really quickly but it feels like my arms are being ripped out of their sockets right now so that should give you an accurate idea how it feels. Don't try this at home. Or at a train station.

Pulling myself up I managed to see its arm rear back to squash me on its arm, so I let go and grabbed onto its knee caps as it slammed its other hand into where I hung before.

"Caroline any time now!" I shouted.

Right on cue she jumped from the branches of a tree and attacked the robots head ferociously. Within a few short moments the robot fell down before poofing into pixels.

"Now let us see whatever they found" Caroline exclaimed walking towards the hole.

"Sure lets do that... Next chapter bye for now guys and girls" I winked. You guys must hate these occasional cliffhangers.


	15. Chapter 15

Ah hello I'm back! If you can resist throwing stuff at me for that mini cliffhanger that would be great. It's time to see what lay in this hole.

"Hey Author you fucked up again" I smirked hearing the sounds of frustration coming from him.

'Just shut up and get to your supply drop before I break it' he growled.

With a chuckle I walked up to the edge of the pit and looked in, ignoring the look of confusion on Caroline's face.

Inside the pit lay a large robot, any lights on it I could only assume were either turned off or broken. On its back I could see something very familiar on there. It was then when it struck me on exactly what this was.

"That is a Titan" I muttered before sliding down the walls of the pit.

"A Titan? It is just a machine how couldst this be a Titan?" Caroline spoke up confused.

"This is from a different dimension. That's why" I replied laying my hands on the rusted metal.

It must of been here for a very long time as it had rusted over completely. Leaving only the lights free of rust. From the body structure I guessed this was Legion from Titanfall 2. My biggest hint was the chain gun on it's back and shoulders the size of a truck.

After managing to find the hatch I managed to pull it open, thanks to the power given to me by the link. Thankfully it did not try to shut itself as doubt I could of won that battle. Powers or not.

Looking inside lay the corpse of a pilot. Parts of their suit had rotted away revealing their skeleton that lay underneath. Carefully picking the corpse up I dropped down onto the floor before laying it down.

"Who ist that?" Caroline spoke up from the rim of the hole.

"I have no idea. A man or woman who died a long time ago. Their armour and Titan kept the skeleton in a good condition, but it is still damaged in various places" I replied before fiddling with various parts of the armour.

"What are you doing? Shouldn't we leave his corpse in peace?" She exclaimed.

"I'm taking what is salvageable then I'm going to bury him. If you want to help you can" I shrugged before continuing.

-five minuets later-

"Finally got this armour off them" I wiped my forehead from the sweat. Removing the armour is a lot harder than what I would of originally thought.

"I have also finished their new grave" Caroline replied and true enough she had, it was nothing special but it would do.

Gently picking the skeleton up I lay it to rest inside the shallow grave but before I could start putting the dirt back on Caroline stopped me.

"It wouldst be best if thee put on their armour first. It would show thee have inherited their armour. It would give his spirit rest knowing his equipment is in good hands" Caroline whispered in my ear.

With a nod I headed back to the armour and strapped what I could on me. My cargo pants I wore now had armour over the top of it, mainly over the shins and knees. I didn't want to risk putting the boots on. The chest piece I wore over my top but underneath my jacket, the jump kit sticking out from under the jacket. The rest went on my arms and hands so it was still me but now with the armour in various places.

Finally I reached the helmet and I paused, wiping the dirty visor so it would be easy to see before I put I on my head.

Slowly a blue light switched on inside it, allowing me to see out as various boxes appeared.

"Welcome Pilot [UNKNOWN]" it read at the top.

"This is both cool and scary" I muttered looking around wondering how many things from other games and dimensions were scattered around the place.

"Art thou alright?" Caroline asked getting my attention.

"Yeah I'm just allowing this to calibrate itself or something like that" I replied before noticing how tight this crotch plate was. I'm gonna need Nepgear to look at this when I get back.

[Connecting to Titan FH-11-5-13-09]

Uh that can't be good and I doubt there is a cancel button.

[Connected]

Oh shit.

Suddenly the Titan twitched before it slowly pulled itself upwards, joints screeching in protest at the movements.

"Pilot it has been 10,345 years since the incident. Are you al-" The Titan cut itself of as it noticed that I was not its original pilot. "Civilian I would advise you remove the armour of my pilot"

"Your pilot is dead" I replied pointing to the skeleton.

"Evidence... Correct" The Titan replied after what I could only assume was scanning the corpse. "Please may you still remove the armour and inform me of the direction of the nearest militia base"

"I can't do that either" I replied "You are... Not in that dimension anymore"

"Evidence... Correct. Air composition here is 10% better than before. No sign of militia or IMC input in this immediate area. No signal from any fleet" it listed off turning around slowly before looking back at me. "Who are you?"

"Thomas Fletcher, You're FH something or the other?"

"Affirmative. I am FH-11-5-13-09. Would you prefer to use a nickname to make it easier?"

"Yeah how bout Foxhound? Got the FH in it"

"Affirmative. New designation: Foxhound"

There was a pause as it turned to Caroline.

"This woman is armed"

"That is Caroline. She's an ally" I replied before an incident occurred. We didn't need to lose a party member over a misunderstanding.

"Confirmed. As you are currently in the possession of my previous pilots armour and the only viable option I have; you are now my new pilot until further notice" Foxhound announced. "We will need to link before we move"

"Uh sure how do we do this? Shake hands or something?" I chuckled before it held out a hand.

"You need to take up the pilot seat. Then more of my systems will unlock" Foxhound replied.

"Uh sure" jumping it its hand it slowly brought me up to the height where I could walk inside it.

After sitting on the seat the hatch slowly closed. It was dark at first before various green lights turned on as if they were scanning me before the front screen slowly allowed me to see outside although a few of the screens were just showing a black screen.

"Pilot it is advised that you go on foot as some of my external cameras have been damaged" a now masculine voice replied.

"Uh sure could you open the hatch?" I replied and as I finished speaking the hatch opened.

"Pilot do you approve of this new voice? I have been through your various memories and estimated that this voice you would request to hear instead" Foxhound replied "It is from a movie star and former governor called "Arnold Schwarzenegger"

"Oh hell yeah I approve of that" I replied climbing out and jumping down onto the floor.

"If I may interrupt we have to bury this person still" Caroline spoke up pointing at the skeleton.

"Pilot John Derline" Foxhound announced, gently pushing a small mound of dirt onto the Skelton burying him. "We had served together for two years exactly when the incident occurred"

"I'm sorry for your loss Foxhound" I patted it's leg. It was sort of impossible to reach his shoulder.

"Noted" came my neutral reply.

"Come we must get to the southern side of the forest to stop the evil witches captain" Caroline started before looking at me and Foxhound. "If you both go around the outside we can meet up before we start the attack"

"Gotcha we'll meet ya there" I gave a small wave as she disappeared into the forest.

"Pilot why shouldn't we follow behind her?" Foxhound asked as we began our journey around the edge of the forest.

"That's cuz she's a Druid and wouldn't be happy if we broke her trees. There is also this big tree which can talk and he probably wouldn't be happy if we tore up his forest too" I replied

"Noted, I shall endeavour to avoid destroying the trees in this area" Foxhound replied.

The conversation died down for a moment as we continued walking along, surprisingly enough there was no robots to fight.

"So what can this suit do? Is it invisibility or something?"

"No, the equipment my previous pilot preferred using a grappling hook to increase his combat efficiency by hooking onto walls and corners for a boost in agility and would often use it to swing a object around like a medieval flail to strike IMC forces if he was out of ammunition" Foxhound replied.

"What firearms did he use?" I asked interested in what I would have.

"Pilot John Derline preferred the Hemlock assault rifle and the Hammond semi automatic pistol. They are both currently in my hold if you require them but they are heavily rusted and require repairs"

"Nah it's fine I can survive but I do have a plan for them in a bit. How bout that chain gun you have does it still work?"

"Yes, the materials used in creating the predator cannon prevents rust from occurring" Foxhound replied "it's rounds are remade in the magazines when I attach them back onto my person. Therefore I cannot run out of ammunition"

"That's awesome" I grinned imagining Foxhound just firing away at a bunch of robot.

"Indeed" Foxhound replied "would you like a lift? You will be 15% less effective in combat if you are exhausted"

"Sure go for it" raising my arms up I felt Foxhound pick me up and put me on top of its head. "The view from here is amazing"

"Noted. We are approaching a unknown building soon. Estimated time of arrival five minuets" Foxhound replied.

"Do you think Caroline would have waited for us?" I asked leaving back slightly.

"Unknown. From memories of her she could stay behind and wait for us or she may attempt a preemptive strike against our foes without our assistance"

"Let's hope not eh? I guess you already know that I can generate weapons from energy right?"

"Affirmative, while at first it was surprising it seems like an invaluable skill in the field"

"Well I was thinking. If I could see those rifles he used I might be able to replicate them. Then you have something to remember John with"

"Affirmative. Do you wish for the weapons now pilot?"

"Sure it'll pass the time until we meet with Caroline"

Foxhound opened his hatch against and with the greatest of care pulled the rifle out first then the pistol.

"Thank you Foxhound" I replied slowly running my hands along the rifle to get an idea on its shape.

"Noted" Foxhound replied and we both fell silent for the rest of the journey.

-three minuets later-

"Pilot I would advise you go back on foot. We will soon be reaching the point of contact and she will most likely want to talk to you under the cover of the trees. Have you had any luck creating the firearms?"

"Nearly. The rifle is just on the edge so hopefully it won't be long until I can do it" I dropped down onto Foxhounds outstretched palm before landing onto the floor and jogging into the forest.

"Where is Corline?" I muttered looking around.

"I cannot detect any heat signatures in the forest but I can detect two of them closer to the building" Foxhound spoke over what I would assume was the radio.

"Gotcha. Here's hoping one of those are not Caroline" I replied making a bee line towards the building.

Wouldn't you know it one of those heat signatures was Caroline. Now I bet you didn't guess that the other was Annonydeath holding Caroline. If you say that you always knew then you sir/Madame/Apache attack helicopter lied.

"Now come on honey you cannot seriously think that you could stop me?" He chuckled in his usual fabulous way.

"Somehow he seems slightly more fabulous now that I get to see him in person" I muttered.

"Pilot if I can catch this unknown robotic by surprise I could easily knock it down allowing you time to save Caroline" Foxhound spoke up.

"Do you need me to distract this guy?" I asked watching as Mettato- I mean Annoydeath pulled a fabulous pose while still holding Caroline.

"It would increase the chances of this working. My motor joints in my legs are rusted so I cannot move at the same speed as I could before" Foxhound replied.

"Gotcha start moving now. One distraction coming up" I replied before stepping out of the tree line.

"I mean seriously darling you are just lacking in a fashion sense aren't you? Green this and green that. Even your robes, if I may call them that, are green and brown" Annonydeath said in disgust.

"These are my traditional druid clothing" Caroline growled "Thou art stepping on thin ice robot"

"Oh my the leaf as teeth" Annonydeath replied in fake shock before chuckling "honestly darling you are nothing compared to my darling Noire"

"Noire?" Caroline asked

"Yes the goddess of Lastation. She's just amazing but this new guy thinks he's so special and is trying to get with her" he growled "Ooh if I see him I would rip him apart for her"

"What ist this mans name?" Caroline spoke up.

"Oh his name is Thomas Fletcher"

"Oh"

"Wait... Do you know him?"

"Yes I met him recently"

"Where is he now!? I must extract my revenge for my Noire!"

"I'm right here dickhead!" I shouted gaining both of their attention.

"You" Annonydeath growled dropping Caroline and glaring at me.

"You wanted me Mr Fabulous" I replied spreading my arms "come get me"

With a shout of unfabulous rage he ran at me with balled up fists. Sidestepping past the charging robot I ran over to Caroline, she looked pretty hurt and needed my help getting to her feet. From my left I could see Foxhound approaching with increasing speed, there was something intimidating seeing a giant robot sprint in your direction.

"I will rip you apart for her sake" Annonydeath growled. "You don't deserve... What is that noise?"

It was at this point he turned only to take the full weight and power of Foxhounds fist into his face launching him flying into the wall of a building before collapsing into a heap.

"Protocol 3 protect the pilot" Foxhound almost growled as he pulled out his predator cannon and span the barrels at Annonydeath. This next chapter is gonna be awesome. Robot mecha fight whoo!


	16. Chapter 16

Annonydeath managed to roll out of the way as Foxhound started firing, the chain gun sounding more like thunder as the rounds tore up the distance between them and their targets.

Watching for a couple seconds longer as Annonydeath threw himself behind the building, I helped Caroline onto her feet.

"My thanks" she managed to say before coughing.

"Less words more movement. Let's get you inside the tree line" I replied before looking up at Foxhound.

"I have you covered Pilot" He nodded before slowly walking in the direction of the tree line, scanning for any movement from Mr Fabulous himself.

Upon reaching the tree line I set Caroline down but she grabbed my arm before I could jump back into the fight. "You need to get rid of the evil witches captain soon and get the antidote, I can feel the poison coursing through the trees and they will die soon!"

"I got it now rest" I replied pushing her back down.

"Pilot I am under attack need assistance" Foxhound's voice came through the radio.

Looking over I could see he was. While I was talking to Caroline he had moved closer to the building and Annonydeath was attacking him. As Foxhound was the bigger of the two of them he was struggling to bring his chain gun to bear on him as Annonydeath danced around.

"You know for all that power you showed at the beginning you are terribly weak" Annonydeath's voice called out.

Concentrating I managed to form the hemlock and opened fire, the bullets smacking into Annonydeath causing him to flinch from them.

"Damn this guy must be a higher level than me" I muttered before watching in awe as Foxhound used this pause to drop his chain gun and pick Annonydeath up and then slamming him onto the floor.

"Pilot it seems your weaponry deals little damage to him. You will need to distract him so I can hit him" Foxhound spoke through my helmet as he picked his chain gun up and slotting it onto his back.

"You got it big man, though remind me when we have time to teach you how to box" I replied

"Noted" he replied as Annonydeath got up and regarded us with what I could only assume was irritation.

"I can't believe someone as beastly as you could even consider yourself worthy of being with my Noire" he scoffed "Ganging up two against one? Hardly any manners"

"Says the pervert who spies on her everyday" I replied "Anyway I've done things you won't ever"

"And what is that? I doubt anything you've done will matter anyway"he replied

"I kissed Noire" I replied with a smirk. Now that is a half truth technically as I've only kissed her cheek but I wasn't going to tell him that.

Have you ever had those moments when everything is perfectly silent. No noise, no movement. Like the calm before a storm occurs. Yeah that's what happened.

With a roar Annonydeath threw himself towards me, swinging wild punches in an effort to crush me, I was barely able to dodge them often having to resort to twisting my entire body just to get past the blow. I may of made a mistake goading him on.

But before he could take another swing at me; Foxhound grabbed his arm and spun Annonydeath around, at the same time Foxhound's fist came hurtling towards Annonydeath's body.

Annonydeath cried out in pain but before he could get away Foxhound then lifted him up and threw him into the wall of the building, resulting in Annonydeath breaking through it.

"You know scratch what I said before we need to teach you some professional wrestling moves" I spoke up looking over at Foxhound.

"With my frame that would be more effective as I am unable to swing punches fast like in boxing" Foxhound replied.

"Do I detect approval?" I joked walking up to the hole and looking at Annonydeaths still form.

"Affirmative" Foxhound simply replied.

"Well before that we need to find that antidote and save these trees" I replied gingerly stepping over Annonydeath "I'm sure a load tree huggers are going to love me for this, if he gets up before I'm back ask him where the antidote is. Then knock him out again"

"Affirmative" Foxhound replied before taking up guard beside Annonydeath.

Walking through the building nothing looked like it was completely out of place until I came to what I can only describe to be a giant tank with multiple prongs sticking into some patches of earth. A sickly green coloured liquid was being pumped slowly into it.

"This is something like the grineer from Warframe would do" I muttered looking around the room before coming to a control panel. "Tenno insert my box in it so I can mess around for half a day while you fight off incoming enemies"

With a chuckle I examined the buttons, using my master intellect to deduce that the big red button saying "Remove poison" was the button to press.

Pressing the button I made for the doors when they suddenly sealed.

"I hope you didn't think it was going to be that easy" Annonydeaths voice came through a speaker.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me" I muttered forming my twin blades.

"Your big friend, while he is strong and I like people like that, can't hold me down for long" Annonydeath purred. "Now then I must avenge my darling Noire"

"I didn't do anything to her!" I shouted as robots started dropping from the ceiling.

"Oh please you soiled her beauty with your stench" he growled "I'll send your head to her as a gift. Would you like gold ribbon or purple?"

"Purple is good" I shrugged, spinning the blades around. "Goes with the rest of my gear"

"Excellent I knew we could come to an agreement" He chuckled. "Now if you could be so kind to drop your weapons and I promise they will make this quick"

"Yeah no" I replied.

"Pilot the doors to your room are locked" Foxhound spoke through my helmet.

"You can't break the wall open?" I replied backing off slightly as the bots slowly approached me. I could see they were the same level as me currently but I couldn't tell if they were like the previous bots an would get stronger the more I killed.

"I can but it will take multiple strikes"

"Just do it!" I shouted ducking under a saw blade swung by one of the robots.

"Affirmative" Foxhound replied before a shockwave echoed through the room.

"Now that he's doing that.." I muttered looking at the mass of robots "I should probably kill some of this lot"

Dashing forward I managed to duck under another saw blade before stabbing both blades into the chest of the closest robot. Pulling them out I brought the across its chest causing it to stumble backwards before exploding into pixels.

Thankfully the robots around me did not get any stronger so I continued my fight cutting away at the horde of robots, I was taking hits too but once again thanks to the girls it wasn't permanent but it stung like a bitch.

Suddenly a hand broke through the wall and grabbed a bunch of robots before lobbing them into another group. Then it pulled itself out removing more of the wall as it went.

"Pilot enough of the poison has left the forest that the fauna's natural defences can stop death from occurring and naturally remove it" Foxhound spoke through the hole "I advise you leave that room"

"Already on it!" I replied, jumping onto the head of a robot and jumping to the hole, grabbing the edge and pulling myself over. As I hit the ground, causing a sharp feeling of pain jolt through my body, a small text box appeared in the top left of my vision.

"Jump jets synchronised. Double jump enabled"

"You know I wish it did that earlier" I muttered pulling myself up.

"The jump jets require movement and time to fully calibrate to the pilots movements" Foxhound replied looking down at me "Your equipment should start recalibration now and soon you will be able to use the grappling hook too"

"I can hardly wait" I muttered "I have such good experiences with grappling hooks"

Walking back to Caroline I saw that she had managed to push herself onto her feet.

"Thoust saved us" She managed to say "You have mine thanks"

"No problem, just doing what I can" I replied "So do you want some help getting back to your great tree?"

"There ist no need. He is coming to us" Caroline said.

"Indeed I am" The Great Tree spoke up, his voice echoing around us. "The scrolls werest true and have been fulfilled"

"They have yeah" I replied feeling tired with the old English they spoke. "So I'll be going now"

"Thou will not stay for the feast?" Caroline asked.

"No I need to get home. Regardless if Noire, Neptune and Vert are still mad at me" I replied tired. "Foxhound let's go buddy, you two had better destroy that building and the poison inside it. Don't want the same thing happening again"

"Affirmative" Foxhound replied before picking me up and setting me on his head.

Slowly we plodded away from Caroline and the forest but I couldn't leave without saying something.

"If you need me or the goddess find a way out of here and go to either Planeptune or Lastation. They should be the closest cities to here" I shouted over my shoulder.

I didn't turn back to see if she heard me and Foxhound could probably sense my urgency to get home as he started speeding up slowly till we were going at a slow jog for him, sprint for me.

-3 hours later-

As we came over the crest of the hill I looked out onto the plains that lay ahead of us.

"Pilot I have looked through your memories and must make a request regarding a certain individual" Foxhound spoke up.

"Sure go for it I guess" I replied patting the big guy on the head.

"This Nepgear. Is she able to repair me? I have suffered multiple points of damage and severe rusting" Foxhound spoke up which caused me to burst out laughing.

"Sure she will big man. If she can't she can make you a new frame if you want" I replied.

"A new frame would be appreciated as this frame is damaged severely and not fast enough to keep up with aggressors in this dimension" Foxhound stated. "A Vanguard class frame would be better suited for here"

"If you have the schematics she can do it" I leant back imagining Foxhound like BT. "Sure this wasn't a personal wish or something?"

"It is yes" Foxhound replied "In combat I was never able to keep up with my peers except Scorch's and even that was difficult sometimes"

"Fair enough. What about your Predator cannon?"

"I shall keep it. It shall be a reminder of my previous pilot and remind me what I once was"

"I think you should too. But I never knew you could be so talkative and feeling emotions like that"

"I was part of a prototype program that was to give the me more human thoughts, it was thought to be a failure as others like me would sacrifice themselves for the sake of their pilots and other soldiers so they shit down the production"

"Damn... Sorry to hear that"

"Noted. I am the 11th to be created with a level 13 intellect. The fate of the others I do not know"

"Maybe we will Foxhound. Maybe we won't"

Silence fell between us as Foxhound started climbing down.

"And I guess that's how you can look into my memories?" I asked remembering how it did that.

"Affirmative. It allowed me to confirm many facts. It was also why I have began to.. "Relax" around you" Foxhound replied.

"Fair enough. So why did you you not pick a voice that would please you?" I asked confused

"It made you trust me more" Foxhound replied simply.

"Okay well when you get that new chassis you gotta pick your own personality. And gender the Author is getting annoyed writing "it" instead of a gender" I chuckled.

"Affirmative, I assume he will use another time skip to get us back to Planeptune?" Foxhound asked as we reached the flat ground.

"Yeah he probably will. Gotta see the girls soon as hopefully they will have calmed down now" I replied sitting upright again. "Let get going"

-stop predicting what I'm about to do! Ugh.. Four hours of Titan walking later-

Now I'm not sure if you could of guessed but coming up to a city in a giant robot does cause some panic and when panic occurs the goddess of the city will come help settle it. With extreme force if needed.

So when Neptune and Nepgear came flying at us I had to quickly show that it was us and we are not here to destroy the city before a fight broke out.

"Neptune I'm home honey!" I shouted waving my arms to get her attention, thankfully it seemed to work.

She slowed down before floating over to me, obviously it was Purple Heart not Neptune as Neptune cannot fly or float.

"Thomas" she stated looking at me.

I pulled the helmet off, letting it dangle loosely in one of my hands.

"The very same. Did ya miss me?" I smiled, even though it hasn't even been a day I must admit I missed her terribly.

"More than you know" she replied before grabbing my jackets and pulling my close, pressing her lips against mine.

Now yes this wasn't my first kiss but it was definitely my first that made me both speechless and feel like my brain was melting. I could feel the passion behind it as she moved from a kiss to hugging me.

"You must have a story to tell" she giggled as she saw my face. It probably was radiating with pure bliss.

Dumbly I just nodded still trying to find the words on what to say which caused her to giggle even more, I could vaguely hear Nepgear speaking but I wasn't even going to try and listen to her. All of my attention was on Purple Heart.

"Why do you look so shocked?" She winked at me "I said I would give you one a couple chapters ago"

"That's true you did" I managed to smile.

"I'll tell the girls you have returned. You may want to help your robot friend first with Nep Jr. She's going to start foaming at the mouth soon" With a soft laugh Neptune pointed down to Nepgear who I could only assume was bombarding Foxhound with a load of questions.

"Nepgear you aren't pestering Foxhound are you?" I called down getting her attention.

"N-no I was asking him questions!" She looked up at me, her cheeks tinged slightly. "His technology can't be from our dimension!"

"That's cuz he's not. I'll tell you when we get inside. He's gonna need your help anyway" I replied with a smile as she looked ecstatic.

"I have a way he can go to get inside my workshop" she replied floating away slightly. "Follow me"

So we did, Foxhound plodding along slowly behind her, doing his best to avoid stepping on cars and going through buildings, as I sat on top of him with Purple Heart sitting beside me, resting her head on mine as she smiles softly to herself.

It didn't take long to reach the entrance into Nepgear's hidden workshop and soon enough her and Foxhound were earnestly talking together about his upcoming designs and other stuff I did not understand while a now untransformed Neptune and myself walked up into the Basilacom to await the arrival of the girls. And obviously we walked with our hands intertwined.


	17. Chapter 17

"So let me get this straight" Vert put a finger against her cheek "After Neptune threw you away; you went over the mountains and landed in a unmarked sacred grove where you met a Druid named Caroline Birch and a tree that could talk"

"Yup" I nodded, sprawled out across a bean bag. Neptune sprawled out on top of me and Plutia on her.

"You decided to believe them about a prophecy and you met your robot Foxhound and you proceeded to fight Annonydeath and drain the poison from the forest" She continued.

"Yup and Foxhound is a he. He finally decided on his gender and the author is delighted" I replied winking at Neptune. I felt something shift under my head, propping it up so I looked above it to see a blushing Noire trying her best not to look too nervous and happy. My head was resting in her lap now, this is both cute and funny as I'm pretty sure Vert is getting annoyed at the amount of attention I'm getting from everyone.

"You looked like you needed something to prop your head up and I didn't want your neck to hurt" Noire exclaimed before I spoke "I'm not doing this because I wanted to!"

"You're so adorable I could kiss you" I winked at her causing her cheeks to flare up even more. I think there might be steam coming from her head..

"And now Nepgear is creating a new body for Foxhound and Plutia just arrived telling us that the others will arrive tomorrow?" Vert almost growled to get our attention. "Did I miss anything out?"

"Yeah that you're extremely jealous of the attention I'm getting" I smirked.

This caused her to snort in frustration and shake her head before pulling out a small handheld device and playing games on it.

"Noire you should kiss him" Neptune spoke up, looking up at Noire. "You'd like it"

"And I assume you have already Neptune?" Noire snorted looking away but I think she is thinking / daydreaming about that now.

"Yeah I have" Neptune replied honestly.

"What!?" Noire almost squeaked.

"I promised I would more than a few chapters ago. You should read this story more" Neptune sighed.

"What? Never mind" Noire replied shaking her head.

"You promised Sadie that you would" Neptune grinned as Plutia perked up hearing this. She had been half asleep before now which was adorable, she's like a duckling trying to not fall asleep but slowly does it anyway.

"Yeah you did" Plutia spoke up in her usual slow tone of voice. "Do it now Noire!"

"But-!" Noire's face was going into meltdown mode. I bet she was having trouble deciding if she should be honest or tsundere at this moment.

"Noire.. Please?" Plutia replied, while her tone of voice was as sweet as rich Christmas pudding (least I think Christmas pudding is sweet. I've never had it one if you will have to tell me if it is) her eyes had a hard edge to them, leaving no room for debate. What Sadie wanted she got.

"You'll have to come down to me Noire I can't really move" I spoke up so they remembered I'm down here.

"What? I mean... You're fine with this?" Noire's face somehow went from red to pink now. She should really look into that in case it's the symptoms for something serious as I'm pretty sure no-one should blush this much.

"Yup. We were going to kiss eventually so why not now? You'll probably make Neptune slightly jealous too" I replied with a smile, wincing slightly as I felt a knee jam itself into me.

"O-ok" she muttered shifting back slightly before she slowly bend down to me.

It felt agonisingly slow, it is kinda shocking how much I (and the Author) wanted this to happen and here it was about to happen. She slowly brushed some of her hair out of her face as her eyes gradually closed.

I managed to prop myself up and push myself up to meet her and soon enough our lips connected.

Kissing Noire was drastically different than Neptune. While Neptune felt like fireworks were going off and my mind was going at Mach three, Noire was the polar opposite. It was like slow jazz was playing and I felt like I was sitting beside the sea, I felt at peace and calm. Like I didn't have a single care in the world.

Slowly she pulled away and she looked shocked and embarrassed which caused me to grin.

"It's a hell of a lot better than daydreaming huh?" I chuckled as she nodded in a daze before she seemed to hear what I said properly and hid her face behind her hands.

"Happy now Plutia?" I looked down at the two girls on my chest. While Neptune looked slightly jealous Plutia looked pleased. I think. I can never tell with her.

"Yes I am" she replied shifting slightly. "But I need to do something"

She quickly leant forward and I only had enough time to register what she planned on doing before her lips pushed against mine roughly.

Now I'm pretty sure this is a shock to you guys, girls and Apache attack helicopters as this is a pretty big shock for me. This love triangle may of just turned into a rectangle. Or something. A shape of some form. Yeah something like that. You get the idea.

Now Plutia wasn't like Neptune or Noire. No Plutia was like a burning fire. Everything about her was hot (take that as you will) and it burned through my system.

She pulled back and settled back on a very shocked Neptune. The whole room was silent. Very had stopped playing her games and was nearly gawking at us. I could just see Blanc and the two hats of Rom and Ram beside her and the expression on Blanc's face could probably be copied onto their faces too; Noire was probably in the same state as everyone else including myself. Plutia just smiled.

"Well that was unexpected" I managed to say. "Good but unexpected"

"You can say that again Neppu" Neptune mumbled

"Well that was unexpected" I grinned as Neptune cast a look of annoyance my way "Good but unexpected"

"You did that because I did that a long time ago" She puffed her cheeks out

"Revenge is sweet" I grinned.

"So when did Tom start getting three goddesses wanting him?" Ram spoke up "Because I missed that part!"

"Ram I'm pretty sure you just spoke the question on the minds off all the readers" I replied "Mine too"

"It wasn't fair that Noire and Neppy got to kiss you" Plutia puffed out her cheeks

"Fair enough" I shrugged "This is a chapter for us just chilling as the Author doesn't want this story to be too focused on combat instead of humour"

"Psst Tom you probably weren't supposed to tell them that" Neptune whispered poking me in the ribs.

"Meh if he didn't want them to know that he wouldn't of allowed me to break the 4th wall" I replied poking her cheek in return.

"Well I'm not sure how you've done it" Vert chuckled "but good luck. Having three goddesses going for one person probably won't end well"

"Probably but I'm gonna give it a try anyway" I replied "and don't worry Vert we will find someone who will go for you. Beside IF I mean"

Vert just groaned but her cheeks had flared up slightly so I knew I had probably hit the nail on the head.

So while I'm laying here being squashed, pampered, loved, maybe still hated by Ram and slowly falling asleep from how warm it is maybe I should do a time skip.

Probably best.

-The next morning-

Right who here owns a cat? You when they settle on you that the only way to get them off is with a crowbar? Yeah that's my morning right now.

Turns out Plutia is the type of girl who likes cuddling in her sleep and she seriously can't tell the difference between her room and my room when she's only 1% awake.

So I woke up with her clamped into my arm and refusing to let go.

"Plutia" I whispered in her ear trying to get her to wake up.

No response from sleeping beauty.

"Plutia it's morning let go!" I whispered again, poking her cheek.

A soft mumble emitted from her then she fell back asleep after tightening her grip.

"Plutia you're stopping the blood reaching my arms. Your giving me pins and needles here so let go!" I whisper shouted shaking my arm slightly.

But she still refused to let go.

Holding in a growl of frustration I got up and shook her a bit to try and dislodge her that way but she still wouldn't budge.

"Okay sod it" I muttered taking a moment to form a white with purple tips crowbar before sliding it underneath her. "If you don't get off I will prise you off"

With no retort I started applying pressure, managing to lift her slightly off my arm which resulted in a groan of annoyance and trying to get back to my arm.

This turned into an battle of endurance, my strength, want to put a shirt on and will to no longer have pins and needles in my arm against her want to cuddle with me and need for a pillow.

In the end she woke up and looked at me with one half asleep eye.

"What are you doing in my room Tom Tom?" She murmured squinting at me.

"You're in my room" I replied. "And Tom Tom? Really?"

"Oh sorry" she let for of my arm and dropped onto the floor. "Your arm is comfortable"

"I noticed" I replied before moving over to a small draw that held what few shirts I owned and taking out a green one.

"Aww" I heard Plutia complain

"No free shows" I grinned poking her nose "Anyway you should go make yourself presentable. The girls from your world are arriving today"

"Oh yeah" Plutia replied and with a slow nod and wave goodbye she left.

"That girl can be so weird sometimes" I muttered giving myself a quick look over. "But I think that's the pot calling the kettle black. I'm not exactly 100% sane myself"

Stepping out of my room I headed in the direction of Nepgear's not so secret anymore workshop. I needed to check up on Foxhound and work on the armour I've inherited; colour change was required. What? It's gotta have my trademark colours on it.

Reaching the elevator I reached down and pressed the hidden button close to the floor of the small box and the doors closed and whisked me off, for some reason the elevator seems to go faster heading towards the workshop than just going up and down the Basilacom. Might need to talk to Nepgear about that when she isn't busy with something.

As the elevator slowed to the stop the doors opened with that cursed ding and I stepped out slowly taking in the workshop now that I don't have Neptune with me.

Nepgear definitely spends a lot of time in here; there were various food and drink machines scattered about the place with just as many bins and unfinished projects scattered about too. In the far corner, under a small lamp, a white board was propped up against the wall.

"I'll assume that's her writing corner she goes to whenever she needs to come up with ideas" I chuckled, moving around the corner where Foxhound's new chassis was being built.

Taking in the giant robot, which had been barely touched since we arrived, I noticed Nepgear working on something close by, it looked too small to be part of the Titan so it definitely sparked my curiosity.

"Hey Nepgear!" I shouted to get her attention. Adding a few waves too.

"A-Ah hello Tom!" She turned surprised "you are surprisingly quiet when you want to be"

"You've got your head stuck in whatever you're building that's all" I replied walking over. Getting a closer look at the object she was working on it was clear it was some form of robotic but I couldn't make out what it was. "What is that?"

"A design from Foxhound. He thought it would be best if he could accompany you on foot if he couldn't fit in with his new body" Nepgear grinned, a hint of the mad scientist leaking through.

"Oh? Does it work yet?" I asked now really excited to see it in action.

"I don't know. Not sure if it is ready to work yet" She replied apologetically.

"Correction: It is ready" Foxhound's voice spoke up causing us both to look up at the now active Titan.

"Heya buddy were you evesdropping on us?" I shouted up at him smiling.

"Affirmative; I thought I would be allowed as you are talking about part of myself" Foxhound replied.

"True true" I replied "Well Nepgear you heard the giant robot of death let's see it in action"

"Okay. Foxie don't push the body too much. It still might need some additions" Nepgear replied before turning and messing around with a few wires.

"Foxie?" I grinned looking up at him.

"I wanted a nickname" He replied.

"Ah your personality has broken through!" I exclaimed throwing my arms up.

"Bad habit acting like a my less advanced brothers and sisters" Foxie replied. (Yes he shall be known as that from now on)

"Right it's ready for transferral" Nepgear spoke up standing beside me. She only just reached my shoulder height.

"Affirmative, transferring to Foxhound unit 02" He replied before the lights on his optics faded to a dull blue instead of the bright blue that usually shone out from there.

After a moment the robot body gave a quick shudder before it slowly stood up on the metal table, slowly stretching out its limbs before what I can assume was a metal visor split open revealing two slanted purple eyes.

"I'm sorry is that Blade wolf?" I gawped looking as Foxie's new body climbed down from the table.

"Affirmative. I thought this form would be best to use to assist you on foot" Foxie replied.

"Can't disagree with that" I chuckled "I always wanted a dog"

"Well that's good" Nepgear sighed "making this took a lot of effort"

"I would think so in the short time we've been back" I replied

"This body does still need a few more upgrades to it before it can leave this workshop" Foxie spoke up after sitting on his haunches.

"That is true but hopefully that won't take too long" I replied. "Nepgear have you taken a moment to sleep at all?"

The reason I asked that is because Nepgear at that moment had slowly fallen asleep standing up.

"She hasn't" Foxie answered for me "She's been working on this body since we got here"

"Brilliant" I muttered picking her up and sitting her in a nearby chair "hopefully she won't be in too much pain when she wakes up"

"Indeed" Foxie replied "I assume you didn't come down just to check up on the both of us?"

"My dear robot dog of pure awesome you are correct" I chuckled turning and petting his head as I moved in the direction of the corner I have stolen in her workshop. It's where I had left my armour after we had returned and gotten settled down.

"So what's the plan?" I heard Foxie ask from behind me as I laid the individual pieces out on a nearby table.

"Colour changing. Have to put my trademark colours on this"

"White and purple?"

"Yup, shows my support for both Black Heart and Purple Heart"

"Why not black and purple? Black Heart and Purple Heart"

"That would be logical but the thing is Purple Heart has black and purple clothing while Black Heart just has black clothing but white hair"

"So you are going by hair colour?"

"Bingo, makes it obvious that I'm supporting them that way"

"And your dual swords?"

There was a brief pause in the conversation as I opened a box to find various spray cans and looked for the colours I needed.

"Well one sword represents Planeptune and the other represents Lastation"

"So you show your equal support to them both?"

"Yup. Without either of them I might not be here right now"

Quickly going over the armour with the white spray can it left it all with a shiny white coating, the blue visor being the only different colour left on it.

"Is there a way to change the colour of that visor?" I looked down at Foxie as he was sat watching what I was doing on the table.

"Yes but you'll need to have the helmet on your head first" He replied.

"Fair enough" I replied leaving the armour to dry "So what about you? Happy with that colour or would you prefer a change in colour?"

"This colour suits me fine" Foxie replied, his tail swaying gently.

"Once again fair enough" I shrugged before remembering that the girls from Plutia's dimension should be arriving soon. "Want to come out of the workshop with me? We gotta meet Plutia's girls and I'm sure they'll be interested in you more than me"

"Sure I'll accompany you Pilot" Foxie nodded and we both made our way over to the elevator, Foxie had to sit down and wrap his tail around himself to actually fit. Hey no calling my new dog fat!


	18. Chapter 18

With the horrid Ding! The elevator doors opened letting me and Foxie out into the Basilacom top floor.

"I need to look into changing the noise on that elevator" I muttered

"Noted but unlikely to occur" Foxie replied as Noire walked in from an adjacent room.

"Oh Thomas you're here" She said before noticing Foxie sitting beside me "um... What is that?"

"Foxhound's new body. Well one of two" I shrugged before walking away from the window over to her. "Why are you up here? I thought you'd be chilling with Neptune"

"I was but she left with the others to the roof. I was waiting for you so we could go up together..." Noire slowly trailed off finding a sudden interest in the city below us.

"Aw thank you my sweet wifey~" I chuckled as her cheeks brightened up upon hearing that. "Well shall you lead the way?"

With a small, almost unnoticeable, nod she began walking to a door located to the side and with a short chuckle I followed behind her; using my lanky legs to catch up with her and quickly kiss her on the cheek resulting in a squeak of shock.

"W what's with the teasing!?" She half squeaked, half whined.

"Like I said before your reactions are cute" I winked pulling her by the hand towards the door. "And I like you so it's natural"

This just resulted in some incoherent mumbling from Noire but I could guess she was happy with what I said.

Pretty sure I can hear a fabulous robot screaming in less than fabulous fury too..

Within a couple seconds of making that thought we came up onto the roof of the Basilacom where everyone was waiting.

"Noire stop trying to steal my man!" Neptune exclaimed when she saw us holding hands.

"Neptune your jealousy is showing" I spoke up. "I'm open to anyone remember?"

"With three goddesses vying for your attention I am surprised you are still alive" Blanc's monotone voice cut in "I hope you have a plan to tell us apart from Plutia's versions of us"

"I have a plan to tell Noire apart from the others" I replied, lightly squeezing Noire's hand. "You and Vert will just have to do something to make it obvious that you're from my dimension"

"So how will you tell Noire apart from her counterpart?" Vert smiled a dangerous smile. I can never let my guard down around her after she started teasing both me and Noire.

"I shall be calling my Noire darling if the other Noire is around" I chuckled and Noire's reaction was immediate, her cheeks flared up once more.

This caused everyone to laugh, even Neptune, who was looking a little jealous.

"They'll be arriving soon" Histoire spoke from behind us almost forcing me to turn just to see her.

"So how will this occur?" I asked before the air suddenly got warmer as a purple portal slowly began to form in the sunny sky.

"Like that" Histoire replied taking a sip of her tea.

From the portal I could see the outline of Plutia's Black Heart, Green Heart and White Heart flying down. I must admit that they look exactly the same as the girls from my dimension. Hopefully I'm gonna be able to tell them apart soon or this is going to get very confusing.

"This is what it's usually like?" I asked Noire after I stopped hugging her.

"Usually yes. Last time was... Different" She trailed off, a faint smile on her lips.

"I wonder why..." I smirked to myself.

Soon enough the girls landed on the roof and the greeting started. You don't know how weird it is to see Noire hugging Noire, two Verts exchanging jokes and laughing in a similar way and Blanc speaking to Plutia's Blanc. Both in a monotone. It's rather scary hearing them talk like that. You'd think they were terminators or something.

"Ah hello Thomas!" A small voice spoke up bringing me back to reality; looking around I was able to spot the smallest fairy on a book in my life. Like she could probably sit in my hand and use it as a chair.

"Histy?" I couldn't help but sound shocked. I knew she was small and I've written about her in my other story but this completely blew my mind out of the water about how small she was.

"Yes it's good to see you on your feet. Last I saw you; you were in a coma" Histy gave a small, apologetic smile "I'm sorry we couldn't meet sooner"

"No no it's fine" I replied waving my hand in dismissal "it's not your fault, blame the dragon who put me in the coma"

"Of course" she smiled before floating over to Histoire and they started their greetings.

It's weird being perfectly honest. These girls have just arrived and they know my name and what has occurred with me. But I know nothing about them. It's like when you go and meet family members and they just know everything about you but you have no memory of them.

"Foxie tell me something about your new body before I feel any more awkward" I looked down at him, hoping he had something interesting to talk about.

"Within this new body I have varying weaponry and modes which can be utilised" Foxie replied, his purple eyes reflecting the sun. "As for levels with this new form my level is linked to your own so I shall get stronger as you get stronger"

"Well we should get some quests going at some point. We're both going to need to get stronger to catch up with the girls" I mused "so what weapons have you got?"

At this point everyone had began moving inside where I can only assume is when the real questions will start. More than likely aimed at me.

"I come equipped with multiple throwing daggers designed to melt metal surfaces and the claws on this frame do the same" Foxie replied as he began walking inside, I followed close behind him. "Though I think the L.R.P.S will be more interesting to you"

"L.R.P.S?" I parroted half imagining Foxhound tearing robotics and monsters apart with his claws. Hey dogs are cool and robotic dogs capable of destroying tanks are even better.

"Long Ranged Propulsion System" Foxie explained. "By attaching to you through your armour I am capable of granting you long periods of flight. Basically I can turn into a jet pack"

"Jet packs.." Upon hearing that word my brain just completely melted. The word "Overpowered" started coming forward until I remembered that the both of us were still a pretty low level.

"Pilot now is not the time to start drooling the CPU's are awaiting you" Foxie barked pulling me from my daydream.

With a nod I walked into the room to find all the girls were spread out across multiple chairs and beanbags. All as pairs. So Darling and Noire were together, the Vert's etc.

"We've been expecting you Mr Fletcher" Neptune spoke up, putting on her evil mastermind tone while she petted Plutia as if she was a cat.

"You expect me to talk?" I chuckled going along with the James Bond theme she had going.

"Of course Mr Fletcher, you must answer all of my friends questions" she chuckled and like that the questioning began.

Most of the questions were simple ones of what has been happening, what's with my robotic dog, games I played etc. Though after a while a really good question came up. It was.. Wait why am I telling you like this? Erm... Flashback drama? Fine fine I'll take us back to it. No more questions now.

"Did you just really do that?" Neptune asked, a slightly confused smile on her face.

"Shush I said no more questions" I waved her off.

"Okay... Anyway I have a question regarding your adventure in the grove" Vert asked trying her best not to think in what me and Neptune were talking about.

"Go for it" I replied, idly patting Foxie on the head. He probably wasn't feeling it but it gave me something to do beside daydream.

"The tree said that when the witch returned her captain would attack. Or something like that" Vert's tone had changed to a very serious one. "You do know who this "witch" will most likely be right?"

"Yup Arfoire, old hag etc." I replied. "You know if I have knowledge of everyone surely I would know who she is?"

"That wasn't the real question" Vert replied dramatically "the real question is: what are you going to do about it? She will easily be a higher level than you and if she does something soon before you are a lot stronger we cannot bring you along"

There was a bit of a pause as I contemplated this before I came to the only answer I could.

"I need to go" I announced standing up and making for the door.

"Where to?" One of the Blanc's asked.

"A quest or fifty. After picking a few things up" I chuckled "it's time for a questing montage, because I am not missing out on the big fight with the big cheese"

Stepping through the doors I could hear Neptune ask the others who the "Big Cheese" was and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself as went down a floor and stepped into the elevator, Foxie getting in as well.

"Pilot there was an elevator in the previous room, why did you go down a floor to just take an elevator?" He asked.

"Well I was closer to the door to make my badass exit" I simply replied, pushing the button that took us back to Nepgears workshop.

"While that is true I do not believe it was as badass as you wanted" Foxie stated.

"How was it not? I left the room after declaring I would get stronger while accompanied with my robotic dog" I retorted gesturing to myself and Foxie.

"That only works in an anime and the main character usually is wearing something a little more badass than cargo trousers and a top"

"And what about you? Are you going to tell me you aren't badass?"

"Pilot I can be three separate things; a Titan, a robot dog and a jet pack. Being badass was and still is one of my prime directives"

"Watch out we've got sass over here"

Eventually the doors opened revealing the workshop was how we left it. A mess. But a good mess. The kind where your mum screams at you to clean it but you won't because you know exactly where everything is and cleaning it will result in stuff being lost.

Walking around the corner to where we left Nepgear we found her still asleep just how we left her.

"Should we wake her up?" I asked.

"I would advise it. We need her to make sure this body is ready for combat and it will give you time to finish the design work on your armour" Foxhound replied.

"True" I replied before I started poking Nepgears cheek "Nepgear wake up"

There was no response.

"Nepgear quick one of your machines is going haywire and is about to destroy everything!" I whisper-shouted to try and scare her into waking up and it worked like a charm.

It worked too well in fact. As she jerked upwards when she woke up so her forehead smashed into mine making me stumble backwards.

"Ow that hurts.. Thomas what are you doing here?" Nepgear asked looking at my confused while rubbing her forehead.

"Waking you up silly" I replied doing the same action in a attempt to calm the pain jolting through my head. "We need you to give Foxie a check to make sure he's combat ready"

"Oh of course!" Nepgear's eyes flashed with energy and she stood up. "This way Foxie"

As Foxie followed behind her, after throwing me an uncertain look or something like that; it's impossible to tell when he can't really show emotions, I moved back to my armour.

Thankfully the white paint I had put over it had dried allowing me to add purple to it resulting in a awesome mix of white and purple.

"This is going to look so badass" I smirked when I heard footsteps behind me causing me to turn around revealing Noire. "Oh heya Noire"

"Hey what are you on about looking badass?" She looked at me with the same head tilt everyone here does apparently.

"My armour, just gave it a paint job" I replied before the thought struck me. "Are you Darling?"

There was no response beside her cheeks flaring up.

"So you are my Noire" I replied "Good to know my plan works"

"I wish you thought up a better plan to tell us apart" She muttered looking around at anything but me it seems.

"Ah but my plan is better, anyway why are you down here? I thought you would of stayed with the others"

"We couldn't let you go off by yourself so we decided that at least one of us should go with you"

"Ah so you're the one?"

"One of two actually"

"Two? Who's the second?"

"She's waiting outside for us when we are all kitted out, she told me not to give any hints to who it was"

"Well as I'm pretty sure it won't be Linda as she's in Leanbox I have two guesses but I shall withhold from guessing"

"Probably best"

"Pilot" a familiar yet different voice called out.

Looking past Noire's shoulder I could see Foxie return with Neptune beside him.

"Did you change your voice Foxie?"

"Correct, I thought it would be best as my new body has been finished"

"So you've picked Cayde-6's voice?"

"He is a robot and I liked his voice so I chose it. Is there a problem?"

"Nope it's good, we've got Noire and someone else joining us for our questing montage my the way"

"The way you said that indicates you don't know who"

"I have a few ideas but I won't be guessing"

"Affirmative, this body is combat ready so we can leave when you are ready Pilot"

"Yeah sure I've got to let the paint dry first. Noire can you go convince Nepgear to go get some sleep in her room? She's starting to fall asleep standing up again."

And like that we all started moving. And by "we" I mean Foxie came over to me and sat down, Noire escorted Nepgear to the lift and went up with her to Nepgears room while I just sat down and narrated what was happening.

-ten minuets later-

"Pilot the paint will have dried by now" Foxie's voice brought me back to reality.

"Thanks for the heads up" I replied standing up and picking up the helmet gingerly.

He was right, the paint had hardened onto the helmet and after running my hand along it I couldn't even feel the paint on it. "I guess even the paints in this world are different"

"Indeed" Foxie replied as I placed the helmet back on the table.

"Right time to suit up" I muttered kicking my shoes off and sliding into the boots.

Soon enough I was almost finished, just leaving the helmet to put on. I must admit I still wasn't used to wearing this armour, probably due to the fact I have only worn this once before.

"Pilot, Noire has just arrived" Foxie announced his head turned to where the elevator was.

Turning round I remembered that Noire hadn't actually seen this armour before and it was pretty obvious on her face.

"Hey my eyes are up here" I smirked.

"Yes I know that" Noire rolled her eyes as she walked over and touched the chest plate "you don't need armour yet you still equip it. Why?"

"Instincts, you got to remember I didn't use to have this kind of power before so armour was the only way of taking a hit and surviving" I explained "it also just feels better if I have armour on"

"I suppose those are good reasons" she muttered almost to herself.

"Come on we should get going and meet our fourth party member" I turned and picked up my helmet, slotting it over my head. Within a few seconds I could see from it and gestured for Noire to lead the way.

It was a tight squeeze getting all of us into the elevator back up to the Basilacom ground floor. But we eventually made it. Sitting on a chair in the lobby was none other than the most dangerous and dominating goddess that ever existed. If you couldn't guess who that was then you clearly don't know the characters of Neptunia.

"Hi Tom Tom! Hi Noire!" Plutia exclaimed jumping out of her seat and waving.

"Heya Plutia, I'm surprised it's you not Neptune" I replied walking up and gently patting her head.

"Histoire said she had to stay as it wasn't polite to run off, leaving her guests behind" Plutia giggled.

"That does sound like Histoire" Noire spoke up from beside me. "We should get going if we want to get some of the better quests"

"True enough let's get going" I nodded walking forward towards the door. "Next chapter: Level grinding"


	19. Chapter 19

Upon arriving at the guild we didn't hesitate in turning on a terminal and creating the party between us. At first I planned on making a joke about it being like a game when I remembered that this entire world was about games so I decided to stay quiet about it.

"I've got us a quest" Noire announced walking back over to us. "It seems like it will be perfect for gaining levels quickly"

"What is it?" I asked, while still petting a sleepy Plutia. How this girl can fall asleep so quickly is beyond me.

"Well a lower level group stumbled upon a large crystal in a nearby dungeon and upon touching it, it seemed to spawn higher level monsters" Noire replied "so the guild put up a request for a group to either extract or destroy the crystal"

"Ooh sounds fun" Plutia spoke up.

"Good as the reward for completing this is high" Noire smirked.

"How many legs did you have to break to get this mission?" I chuckled.

To be honest I wasn't paying too much attention to the mission because I'm sure Foxhound will alert me to what we have to do. I am actually focusing on the design of my katana, while it does look good with the Neptunia design I want to change it to a traditional katana look. Can't beat the classics.

So this time the blade was completely purple but the hilt and guard were white. But instead of just leaving like that I think it's time I added a sheath and what better than my favourite swordsman and boss sheath. Jetstream Sam.

"I did not break anyone's legs!" Noire's annoyed reply brought me back to what was happening.

"Sure you didn't" I replied sarcastically "shall we get going then before the police come to get you for breaking someone's legs?"

Sighing Noire left the guild shaking her head, Plutia, myself and Foxie all behind her.

"Pilot were you designing a new weapon?" Foxie spoke up as we walked down the streets

"Modifying my katana" I replied "but how did you know I was doing something like that?"

"We are linked remember pilot" Foxie replied "I can understand your plans so we work better together as a team"

"That's... A good point" I muttered feeling slightly embarrassed at forgetting that fact.

Deciding against question Foxie anymore I concentrated on making sure the sheath matched this armour colours. Now I don't plan on making sheaths for all my weapons, just for my katana. I mean I'm wearing a suit of armour, I should have my strongest weapon on show too as I might not be in the same party as the girls all the time so don't want to ruin my chances of getting a invite from someone else.

If you couldn't tell my old MMO RPG instincts are kicking in.

After finally being satisfied with the design, colour and making sure that the explosive charge was placed inside just like Sam's I started focusing on forming it. Having never done this before you could say it was difficult.

"What are you doing Tom Tom?" Plutia asked causing me to look up. Apparently I had fallen behind the group a bit.

"Ah sorry I was working on something" I chuckled moving faster to catch up with the group.

"Do that later we are nearly there and we need you to focus" Noire huffed.

"Boo Noire's gotten all focused and bossy" I whined. What? Can a man not sulk when he is interrupted and told not to tinker?

"We've been walking for hours Noire!" Plutia whined too.

"It's been half an hour" Noire barely batted an eyelid at Plutia's half assed attempt to get a break.

"Come on Noire please?" I was about to pull dog eyes but remembered I was wearing a helmet. "Even Foxie is tired out!"

"I am?" Foxie asked before catching on "I mean my servos and cogs are on the verge of taking serious damage"

After finishing his attempt to help us he fell over on his side, locking his limbs out so he looked like he fell asleep. Plutia followed suit which left me and Noire standing.

"Don't you dare." Noire warned me, glaring at me.

"Why?" I chuckled.

"You know why. We have a quest to do so help me get them back up"

"But I want to rest too"

"No buts just get them up!"

"Nooo I wanna rest!"

"You're just as bad as Neptune!"

"I know it's amazing isn't it!?"

Following that I fell backwards into the floor which resulted in a groan of frustration from Noire.

"Fine! Five minute break! Are you happy?" She growled sitting down, I assume with her back to us so we couldn't see the frustrated look on her face.

"Yay~ Thank you Noire!" Plutia replied.

By this point tho I had already sat at and removed my helmet. Who would of guessed you can get really overheated in a helmet which has no real areas of venting as I haven't gotten round to fixing them.

"I'll kiss your cheek after the five minutes" I called over to her and from the way she suddenly sat straighter she probably heard me.

And so the five minute break began. Plutia flopped on Foxie, Noire sulking because no one listened to her and me. Forming a sheath and sword. Pretty average day.

-four minutes later-

"It is done!" I cawed holding up the completed sword and sheath like Libk does.

"What is?" Noire looked up. After the first minute Noire had moved over beside me and had nearly dozed off. Apparently leaning on someone makes her fall asleep quickly.

"My new sword" I stood up after making sure Noire wouldn't fall over and quickly attached it to my armour.

"So you've got a katana and a sheath" Noire blanked.

"Oh my dear Noire" I chuckled "it is more than a simple katana but that is a secret"

"Tom Tom you have a letter stuck to you" Plutia yawned.

Looking down there was indeed a black letter stuck to my armour.

"You know I'm not even going to question how this appeared" I muttered bending down and pulling it off my leg.

"What does it say?" Noire asked stretching a bit before getting up.

"Let me open it first!" I rolled my eyes before opening it.

"Do not proceed into the cave and complete the quest you have set out on. If you do, D3ath shall come for you" I shrugged. "What a cheerful letter, it's even in crimson writing"

Looking up I could see Noire and Plutia hugging each other in fright.

"What's wrong with you two?" I have them a withering look.

"D3ath is a legend. Adventurers who get those letters must stop adventuring and are given well paying jobs by the goddesses for a reason" Noire whispered.

"Those who don't aren't seen again" Plutia whimpered. "The longest fight someone was in with D3ath was only 30 seconds and that person disappeared afterwards. All that is known is that D3ath is male and apparently has no weaknesses"

"What do you mean?" I asked picking up my helmet.

"He takes damage but not enough that no one can see it. The person who lasted the longest only just made the red show before he was taken" Noire mumbled.

"Sounds like this guy is an insane early boss" I chuckled

"No we have to abandon the quest!" Noire shook her head "I don't want D3ath getting you"

"If D3ath comes for me I'll twist his bloody nipples off" I retorted "Now let's go"

Raising the helmet to put it back on I heard a heavy Thunk! and after lowering the helmet so I could see what made it heavier I could see a what looked like a kusarigama without the chain was buried in the helmet. The tip poking back through the visor.

The was a moment of silence. No birds tweeted, nobody spoke of move. Just pure silence.

"Okay now that is just being cheeky" I muttered pulling the kusarigama out of the helmet and throwing it into the floor before storing the now destroyed helmet in my bag.

"See!? we have to abandon this quest!" Noire almost shouted getting up.

"Hell no! I'm going to complete this, I'm going to twist D3ath's nipples off and I'm gonna kick him in the balls so hard he grows a pair of tits and from now on will be known as miss D3ath!" I shouted angrily. "Now I'm going in there!"

Storming ahead into the cave I could hear the others scrambling to catch up with me.

"Foxie which way to this crystal?" I grumbled, slowly coming down from my anger.

"Take the next left" he replied, his tone of voice matched my own due to the destruction of the helmet his previous pilot wore.

"Are you two insane!?" Noire exclaimed.

"Tom Tom this is not a good idea!" Plutia whined

"It doesn't matter anymore. If this D3ath comes before or after we complete this he'll be leaving it with no nipples" I replied continuing on.

"What is your obsession with pulling his nipples off?" Noire asked.

"It's a reference to an old TV show I watched called 'Red Dwarf'" I answered.

And like that the group fell silent with me and Foxie in the lead while Noire and Plutia were behind us. And someone else followed us from above.

"Pilot you do know someone is above us?" Foxie asked so quietly that I had to strain my ears to hear him.

Deciding against whispering a reply I simply nodded.

-10 minuets later-

We arrived at a massive chamber where a giant pink crystal stood in the centre.

"You know when they said large did they forget to say it's the size of a London double decker bus?" I whistled.

"Whatever that is I guess they are about the same height" Noire replied holding her head. Apparently references to another dimension with things in it that she doesn't know about gives her a headache.

"So what's the plan? Blow it up?" I replied walking closer.

"Either way we need to destroy the monsters that will appear once we touch the crystal" Noire pulled out her sword.

"Oh? Does that mean I can go all out Noire?" Plutia perked up, light almost shining from her eyes.

"Erm.. Tom?" Noire looked to me for help as I held up a hand to touch the crystal.

"Sure been a while since I've seen Iris Heart" I shrugged.

"Are you sure though? I mean we are gonna have to wait until she changed back to be safe" Noire shivered.

"You'll be fine. If need be I'll draw her away from you" I chuckled as a flash of light behind me and a predatory chuckle told me that Iris had arrived. Pressing my hand against the crystal I felt a jolt of energy pass through my system almost making me jump back in shock.

"Difference in levels detected" A robotic voice spoke. "Changing defender levels to match Opponent they fight"

"That can't be good" I muttered stepping backwards quickly to line up with the girls and Foxie.

Suddenly eight monsters appeared out of no where. Looking like a mix of hell hounds, death Knights (big buggers who swing claymores like toothpicks) and... Two dragons...

"Dibs on dragons" I called out. "Foxie?"

"Ready pilot" he replied before I felt pressure on my back. Feeling multiple clamps connect to the armour I waited patiently, wincing slightly as they tightened up.

"Pilot the L.R.P.S is ready for use. Just think what you want to do and I shall do it" Foxie announced.

"Bring up a image of us could ya? The readers need a description" I asked.

Suddenly I could see a image of how we looked.

His chest had moved and wrapped around my body covering the white with black armour, while he barely touched my left arm, just covering the white in black my right arm was now armoured close to what Jetstream Sam's looked like but with purple instead of red.

His back legs had wrapped around my legs shutting off more of the white armour so now I was just purely black and purple. On my back was his head, the eyes pointing upwards while what I can assume was the rest of his body made two short wings.

"How can you completely cover my armour? You're not that big" I asked.

"Nepgear made this form from experimental metal which allows construction and deconstruction of the metal plus quick repairs" Foxie announced. "I could move my head over yours but without a helmet I decided to put it on your back instead"

"Nice though next time make my arm come out of your mouth, it'll look even more badass" I chuckled moving my shoulders slightly, getting used to the new weight.

"Affirmative" Foxie replied.

"Thanks for waiting monsters!" I shouted over to them. They all simply nodded and started tensing up.

Looking back at Noire and Iris Heart it appears Noire decided her HDD form would be best so now Black Heart and Iris Heart stood behind me.

"Ready for a party?" I asked pulling out my katana slowly and gripping it in both hands.

"Always" Black heart replied.

"I'm going to have a good time" Iris Heart purred.

"Okay, Let's Dance!" I grinned finally able to say those awesome words and the thought of jetting forward to press the attack had barely crossed my mind when I shot forward eating up the distance between me and the first dragon.

Swinging as I went by I saw a decent amount of its health drop but not enough to make me feel really confident about this fight.

With a roar it turned belching a ball of fire my way. Attempting to duck under it Foxie cut of the thrusters causing us to drop like a stone under it before starting them up again causing us to hover as we squared each other up.

"I need to get on its back quickly Foxie" I said tightening my grip on the katana while watching the second dragon take to the air to support its brethren.

"Hold on then Pilot" Foxie replied before we shot forward.

With a screech the first Dragon dived towards us mouth outstretched but at the last second Foxie boosted to the side and after a quick turn and boost forward we landed on its back.

Flipping the katana around I buried the blade into its back and with the help of Foxie started pulling along its back. It wasn't going to kill the dragon but it would sure as hell deal some damage.

Launching myself off its tail Foxie put us in hover so we could see the damage our little stunt pulled. A decent chunk of its health had been removed.

Suddenly another screech reminded me their was a second dragon. Turning I managed to see the fireball before it struck me, launching us both flying.

"Hot hot hot!" I shouted patting myself over to kill the small flames that had sprung up on me. "You okay back their Foxie?"

"Affirmative but I advise we remove the dragons quickly as the damage is mainly pushed onto me." He almost growled in return, I could just about make the pain out in his voice.

"Well let's kick it up a notch then" I replied and we shot back towards the dragons. Ducking under a swipe from the undamaged dragon we neared the damaged one.

"Pilot your new sheath can deal massive damage to this creature" Foxie reminded me.

"Good idea get me close enough then!" I replied sheathing the blade.

Suddenly Foxie pushed out a massive burst of speed before shutting the thrusters off so we flew directly at it. Time started going at a crawl as we flew towards, the dragons eyes burning with hatred as we flew closer inch by inch.

When we were close enough I squeezed the trigger on the sheath while tightening my grip on the hilt. The explosive charge detonated launching the katana forward at blinding speed and I only just managed to keep it steady, and the blade cut through the dragon.

Nearly all of its remaining health disappeared from the blow and so to finish it off I used the momentum from the blade to spin myself around and jam the blade into its head.

It managed to scream out in pain before it exploded into pixels causing us to fall for a moment until Foxie deactivated the thrusters allowing us to gently land on my feet.

"Nice work Foxie" I chuckled feeling him detach from my armour.

"It was a team effort but we cannot do it again" Foxie replied "A system malfunction has occurred"

"Did she make you out of calculator parts?" I mused before remembering the second dragon "so how can we fight this thing?"

"Leave it to me cutie~" I heard Iris purr before she launched towards it, her whip easily tangling the dragons wings before she began beating on it. And for the sake of the age rating for this story I shall not describe the pain that dragon was put through.

"Back sweetie. Did you see me in action?" Iris asked with a grin on her face.

"Yeah and I really wish I hadn't" I replied trying to remove the image of what she did to it out of my mind. "I'm going to need an extra thick brain bleach to recover"

"Noted" Foxie replied before turning to the crystal "we still had to destroy the crystal"

Looking back at it the crystal seemed to have lost part of its pink hue so I can only assume it was recharging.

"I doubt I can do anything. Maybe you two goddesses should try blasting it?" I shrugged, trying not to make it obvious that I was waiting for D3ath.

"Sure. Plutia help me with this" Black Heart agreed floating upwards till she was about halfway up the crystal and placed her hands on this.

"Oh an order? It has been a while since a man ordered me to do something" Iris purred "Do we get a reward for this?"

"I'll give you both a kiss if that helps" I shrugged. Hugs and kisses are the best I can offer for a T rated story. You guys will just have to imagine what occurs if the screen fade to black like in Mass Effect or something.

"I like it, Noire likes it too" Iris replied with a teasing chuckle at Black Heart. Placing her hands against the crystal Iris couldn't help but resist the urge to show her form off a bit more. "Do remember to enjoy the view from back there~"

"Didn't need to tell me that.." I thought to myself trying not to get too distracted with... Things..

A low whining sound started emanating from the crystal as the girls started pouring power into it and within a few short seconds it shrunk instead of exploding.

"It's the best we can do" Black Heart announced changing back and picking up the crystal. Turning her eyes widened.

"Tom!" She shrieked as I heard the soft sounds almost like a cat softly landing on its paws as someone fell from the ceiling behind me. I'll give you three guesses who that is.

"You shouldn't of-" D3ath started but I wasn't going to let them finish. Turning quickly I grabbed where their nipples were and twisted with all of my strength. Thankfully D3ath wore leathery armour almost like clothing so it was relatively easy to do this. What I wasn't expecting was the high pitched squeal and for D3ath to faint.

"Uh... What?" I stood dumbfounded.

"Looks like D3ath was a girl not a guy" Iris mused as she floated over to us before picking me up. "You were so brave~"

"Not really I just did what I said I was going to do" I tried to play it off but apparently Iris wasn't having that. So instead she was going to claim her kiss now. Pressing her lips and body against mine the familiar feeling of heat burned through my veins until she stopped but even then it wasn't completely gone.

"Well looks like you got your reward" I lightly chuckled looking back into her eyes as she grinned.

"And you got yours but don't forget dear Noire over there. She needs some love too" Iris replied gently lowering me to the ground and started tying up D3ath.

Deciding against asking what Iris was doing I walked over to Noire, who's cheeks had taken over that all to familiar colour of red.

"Come on you earnt this" I chuckled gently lifting her chin so she could look at me.

"I did?" She almost whispered. Noire is so cute when she is bashful.

"Yup" I replied before kissing her, letting the calming waves from her wash over me.

Breaking away from the kiss I could see she wanted another but I decided against indulging that request. I don't exactly want a jealous Iris Heart on me.

"So what are we doing with D3ath?" I asked turning to Iris who had just finished tying up D3ath. Oh she even hand cuffed her in pink fluffy hand cuffs too.

"We fly back to the Basilacom, I tie her up and we all have a rest before we wake her back up and talk to her" Iris replied shrugging. Picking up D3ath and slinging her over her shoulder.

"Foxie? Sound good?" I looked down at him as Noire changed back in a moment.

"It is the best course of action" Foxie agreed "the system malfunction has been repaired and L.R.P.S is fully functional"

"Well let's get home then" I shrugged walking towards the exit. Black Heart and Iris Heart right behind me.


	20. Chapter 20

A couple hours after we had returned to the Basilacom everything was thrown into chaos. The girls were arguing on the best course of action, the staff were frantically trying to set up a room so the girls could talk to D3ath in relative comfort, Nepgear has taken Foxie back and was doing repairs on him and that left me sitting in my room lying on my bed, Histoire banning me from entering any dungeons until this mess had been sorted out one way or the other.

Boredom was already setting in. Great...

"Not much of a spectacular questing montage huh?" The Author spoke up as I managed to remove the last piece of armour and changed into the clothing Noire handed me when I got out of my coma.

"It's just my luck that I would be targeted my D3ath just as I want to start my questing montage and get stronger" I replied. No I'm not sulking shut up.

"Well what can you do?" The Author asked

"I don't know make more weapons I guess" I shrugged sitting up.

"Why not go for a ride?"

"Now you see that plan would be amazing and perfect if it was not for two crippling parts. A) I do not have a motorbike to ride on and B) I do not have a motorbike to ride on"

"Well that puts a crimp in an otherwise perfect plan"

"Yup. Next idea?"

"Let Neptune in?"

"Huh?"

Suddenly a knocking could be heard at the front door so getting up I moved over to it and true to his word Neptune was there.

"I heard you were bored so I, the main character, have came to help" She announced proudly

"Main character huh? And what am I then?" I grinned folding my arms as I lent against the doorframe.

"The..." Neptune started before looking deep in thought "Main characters love interest?"

Rolling my eyes I gave her hair a quick rustle. "Well Neptune would you like to escort me around the town then as I'm your love interest?"

"Of course!" She beamed before making a bee-line to the elevator "to adventure!"

Following after her I couldn't help but smile. She must be overflowing with energy as she missed out on going on the quest and having to be in a serious conversation.

"Thomas you owe me something actually" she spoke up getting my attention.

"What's that?" I replied.

"You gave Sadie and Not so lonely Heart kisses but where's mine?" She huffed.

"They earned theirs!" I countered

"So?"

"So you have to earn yours too"

"That's not fair!"

By now we had already made it to the ground level out were just leaving the Basilacom.

"How is it?" I asked

"They got to fight stuff and go on a quest with you" she whined.

"But we are going on a quest now" I countered

"Since when?" She asked confused.

"Since we left the Basilacom"

"What quest is this? Le gasp! Is it one of those super secret quests that unlock something?"

"If we complete this then I'll unlock a new clothing set?"

"Do I get to choose it?"

"Of course"

"Yay~ now we just need a monster..." Neptune trailed off looking around the place as we continued on walking towards the clothing store.

"Fashion police?" I suggested making Neptune recoil in shock

"Whoa those guys are high level monsters are you sure we can fight them?" She teased

"Well with a valiant protector like yourself then yes we can" I countered.

"Well duh I am the main character"

The light hearted banter continued until we reached the first clothing store. It shone with different lights with the words "Planeptune clothing" flashing above it.

"Well that couldn't be any flashier if they tried" I commented styling before walking up the steps, Neptune overtaking me because she was taking the steps two at a time.

"So what clothing are you going to get?" Neptune asked deftly turning around on her heel, a grin on her face.

"Something chilled but cool" I replied

"Well that's a shame considering I'm choosing remember?" Neptune grinned before prancing into the shop.

"God dammit..." I muttered "if I end up looking like a barbie doll I'm going to strangle Neptune"

Following her inside I could see her almost prancing between clothing aisles, holding out various pieces of clothing before moving on.

"Excuse me sir" I heard a voice speak up from beside me. Turning there was a man in a suit looking very nervous. "Is she with you?"

"Yes why?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"Well sir, the last time she was in here all her friends came as well and ended up ruining the place getting clothing just for her" the man replied "she isn't buying for... You sir is she?"

"Uh..." With a growing feeling of dread I turned to Neptune "Neptune darling you didn't tell the other girls did you"

She did not respond except cast me the most evil grin I have ever seen.

"Run. That is all I can say my friend" I turned to the man, panicking slightly.

The man was even more scared than I was and ran over to the till, pressing a button before running out of the building. Suddenly all of the staff began running as sirens blared out.

"What have you done Neptune!?" I exclaimed

"Brought the girls along to help with fashion" She replied sweetly as I could hear the same sounds jets make as they approach you "what is the problem?"

"From the air raid siren going off, fleeing staff and the general feeling of fear going through my body that's the problem" I shouted before the building started shaking as what sounded like thunder sounded outside. Turning I saw that when she said the girls she meant all of them, including their counterparts.

"Neptune I-" I started before being spun round as Purple Heart stood there with the same evil grin on her face.

"Love you Thomas" she winked before planting a kiss on me. Before my mind had finished processing that I felt a pair of arms grip mine stopping me from leaving.

Feeling tears spring to my eyes I watched Purple Heart turn and lead the girls further into the shop, knowing full well that my sense of fashion, dignity and sense will soon be pushed to their limits.

-three hours later-

"Three hours? More like three days" I thought as I pulled of the nth costume they made and handed it back to them through the curtain.

I was correct for the first hour they made me turn into a barbie doll with sparkly clothing with happy bright colours. I fought off the urge to vomit being perfectly honest.

After that they decided to try and actually get me clothes that fitted my style so the urge passed swiftly and was replaced with annoyance as the clothing I liked got rejected for various reasons.

While Neptune was the one who baited me into this trap she was not the ring leader. That position goes to a bored Iris Heart and the two Vert's. Why Iris Heart? She keeps rejecting stuff because it's not "sexy" enough but fought tooth and nail for the more revealing clothing. For once I had the girl's help against Iris as usually it's a 'save yourself' moment when Iris is around.

The total amount of clothing that had been accepted by everyone added up to three; one military like uniform which got the comment of "I love a man in uniform" from Iris. The second was a more casual clothing, a black flight jacket, a white top with dark blue jeans. The final one was more down Noire's and Neptune's street as they made me look like an edgy protagonist from an anime game. Black trench coat that went down to my knees, loads of belts because apparently I need them, black combat trousers with olive green pockets and a olive top.

The only reason I agreed to any of these is that my shoes and hat would be of my choice so I would be rocking my armour for that so I'll look a little more badass.

They were currently still deciding on a fourth to make me wear. I, on the other hand, wanted to go home and sleep.

"Do I need to set up a charity called 'get Thomas home'?" The Author snickered.

"Shut it you" I almost growled out loud but I managed to hold it back and instead groan as they handed me another costume.

"Last one we promise" Neptune said apologetically

"You said that an hour ago" I replied with a scowl before picking at the clothing. "You seriously want me to wear this?"

What they had got me was a suit made from a white material with a crimson napkin and rose already on it.

"Yes it was personally picked by Iris" Neptune replied.

"So? At this point Iris could have her way with me for a week and I still wouldn't care" I grumbled as I started pulling it on.

"Don't tempt fate Thomas" Neptune countered "if she heard that she would do that"

"Yeah I know. Coming out now"

After pulling the jacket on and brushing it down slightly I stepped out to my waiting audience. This gathered a bunch of 'oooo's' from them.

"I feel like a Saturday night game show host" I muttered tugging at the sleeves.

"You look hot though" Iris replied making my cheeks heat up slightly.

"Well I guess I have to wear this now" I smiled.

"Anymore outfits girls?" Vert asked but I was not having none of this.

"Yeah no. Four new outfits are more than enough" I answered trying to keep a frown off my face. "We're buying these then leaving"

"Oh no I'll do that darling" Iris spoke up causing everyone to look at her in surprise "girls with the amount of clothing we just picked it's going to be very expensive, more than Thomas would have even after that quest"

That seemingly hit a note with them as they all suddenly looked slightly ashamed. I, on the other hand, was really grateful.

"Well if you'll allow me to change quickly then we can get moving" I smiled before pulling the curtains back in front of me.

Changing quickly we took it to the till and after pressing the button again the air raid siren cut off and the staff slowly trickled back in. The man from before soon appeared behind the counter with a look of surprise on his face.

"Sir you don't look..." He trailed off looking between me and Iris as he accepted the payment.

"Traumatised? Yeah after the first hour it wasn't that bad. I even managed to get the girls to clean up their mess" I replied shrugging.

"You have my gratitude sir" he bowed his head as we left.

"Thanks for the help Iris, I owe you one for this" I whispered in her ear as the other girls began talking about what they were going to do next.

"The pleasure was mine cutie~" she whispered back snaking her hand around my hip causing me to freeze up "and I'll be sure to find a way for you to pay me back"

A cough brought us back to reality and looking up apparently we had gained the attention from the other girls, one of the Noire's (my Noire obviously) and Neptune were glaring at us with barely contained jealousy.

"As we were saying is there anywhere you two want to go?" One of the Blanc's asked, her usual monotone having a slightly edge to it.

"Hm I don't mind as long as I'm with this cutie" Iris replied pressing her hands against my chest as she pushed herself closer while looking at Noire and Neptune. To both my horror and pleasure, my arms moved on instincts and wrapped around her hips causing the jealously from those two to nearly go out of control.

"Thomas?" Blanc asked with a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"Anything that is not a dangerous situation like the one we are in right now" I replied trying not to sound nervous.

"How about some training?" Neptune suggested, an evil glint in her eyes.

"No thanks. There is a huge difference in our levels" I replied. I know I'm higher than I was, not as high as I would of been if Iris hadn't killed the dragon I was going to fight, I was still nowhere close to where she was.

"I'll reduce my level so it's a fair fight" she countered

"You just want to whoop my ass cuz I'm not giving you as much attention as Iris" I grumbled "can I at least drop these clothes off and get changed?"

"Fine but don't take too long" Neptune replied sticking her tongue out.

"You just have to have the last word" I would of crossed my arms but the bags of clothing stopped me.

"I guess it's decided. Thomas vs Neptune" Blanc spoke up. "It'll be happening in the training area in the Basilacom in a couple hours"

Splitting off in separate groups I was faintly aware I had Iris following me I headed straight for the Basilacom and to my room to contemplate on things. Mainly my choice of clothing for this fight.

-one hour later-

"Nope still can't decide" I muttered looking between my final two choices of clothing. Do I go with the edgy protagonist look or the gentleman spy just so I can put on a posh accent and look the part.

There was a knock at the door and I opened it revealing Plutia who was looking... Guilty?

"Hey what's up?" I asked after letting her in.

She sat on the bed for a moment before she shook her head.

"I'm sorry for how I acted" Plutia mumbled, her usual slow tone was now even slower.

"Back at the clothing shop?" I asked, sure it was obvious but I decided to ask anyway.

"Yeah. I was just so happy and I only meant to tease them a little" Plutia replied, sniffling slightly.

"Hey it's fine. It was just a joke that got out of hand" I said softly, sitting beside her and hugging her.

"But now you and Neppy are going to fight!" Plutia replied looking up at me with puffy eyes.

"It's more training. It'll give her a chance to get rid of any tension she has" I shrugged. "It will be fine"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah it'll be fine. Anyway you've come at a good time cuz I need a second opinion"

"What with?"

"Do I wear the edgy anime protagonist clothing or the gentleman spy clothing?"

"Hmm that's difficult"

"I know. Classy or edgy..."

"Go with the edgy look. Save the suit for a special occasion"

"Alright then. Well I guess I'll see ya soon Plutia"

Waving good bye to her I started changing. Slightly dreading this upcoming fight.

-another hour later-

Stepping out into the training area I could see the girl lined up on one side with Neptune standing in the middle, her arms crossed and an impatient look on her face.

"You take too long!" she exclaimed

"Hey I gotta look good for this beating I'm about to receive" I smiled taking up a position opposite her.

"It's not gonna be a beating" Neptune started before she turned into Purple Heart "now it is"

"You don't fight often in your normal form Neptune do ya?" I replied deciding to start with the Katana, it in its sheath that quickly attached to my waist.

"Why hold back when you can go all out?" She shrugged.

"She has a good point" I thought.

"Are you both ready?" Blanc #1 asked.

"Yeah" I replied drawing my katana and getting ready.

"Ready to go" Purple Heart spoke doing the same.

"Then let the training bout commence" Blanc # 2 replied dropping her hammer on the ground for a start sound.

"Let's dance!" I grinned feeling both dread and excitement. How will this battle turn out? When will D3ath awaken? Find out in the next chapter!

"You did not just end that on a cliff hanger!" Purple Heart shouted in disbelief.

"Hell yeah I did" I smirked.


	21. Chapter 21

"Come on then Neptune" I taunted "I thought you were the main character"

"That's it!" She growled before covering the distance and began swinging her katana around like crazy.

Dodging and blocking her strikes I barely had time to register and put up a defence each attack before they landed.

"Now you see kids this is a example of 'Karma'" The Author chuckled

"And this is an example of a counter attack" I growled sidestepping and pressing the attack on Purple Heart managing to sneak a few blows in. Apparently she wasn't the best at blocking attacks.

Finishing my attack by slashing upwards I quickly jumped back and slammed the katana back into the sheath resting a finger on the trigger.

Purple Heart, having never seen me use the explosive charge before, took my sudden retreat as a weakness to exploit and shot forward; the tip of her blade scraping across the ground and just as she got within range I squeezed the trigger firing off the charge.

Gripping the hilt of the blade with all my strength I put everything I had into controlling it's direction and keeping a firm grip on it but Purple Heart had managed to kick back at the last second and avoid the full strike, the top of the blade just missing her chin as she leant back to avoid the blade.

Stopping the blade after the apex of its swing I held the position for a moment before standing up again. The muscles in my right arm were not too happy having to stop the full swing but it wasn't too bad.

"What in the Nep was that!?" Purple Heart exclaimed.

"A little ability of mine" I smirked.

"Well if that's how you're gonna play it" she growled "Cross Combination!"

This time I could barely register her attacks as she dashed around me, slicing away at me. The link to the girls stopping any permed any damage but I clearly felt each strike.

With a kick she launched me back causing me to roll on the ground. Mid tumble I managed to throw my katana ahead of me and, with a bit of careful aiming and luck, stood on the katana; the trench coat fluttering in the wind.

"Badass" I smirked "totally planned that"

"No you didn't!" Purple Heart replied.

"Shut up Neptune!" I retorted.

Jumping off I grabbed my katana and started sprinting forward when my instincts screamed at me that something hostile was coming from my left. Raising the katana I just blocked the blade from striking me, following along the blade to the owner I felt my body freeze up in shock.

"Noire!?" I gasped

"Sorry Thomas" she replied, her face looking somber "I needed to show that this hurt me too"

"Me giving attention to Iris?" I managed to say through gritted teeth. She was really strong.

"Giving too much attention" she replied, her eyes hardening. "And anyway I needed to test your strength out myself. The incident with Iris just gives me more of a reason to go all out!"

With that she pushed me back, swinging her sword as I back stepped out of her range.

Looking between the two girls I felt like a fox between two hounds or a wolf being hunted by men with guns.

"If you two wanna play it like that" I shrugged before deforming the katana and creating the twin swords. "Let's keep levels at mine though remember?"

"Don't worry we will. It'll still result in your hide being whipped within an inch of your life" Purple Heart smirked, drawing her blade across the floor.

"Well I guess there isn't any need for me to hold back either" I replied removing my trench coat and throwing it to the side. On my lower back say the jump kit from my armour and a rope went up and along my back before going into the vambraces on my arm.

"I'm gonna have a good time with this equipment" I grinned, rolling my shoulders before getting into a stance.

"A grappling hook and jump jets? Please" Purple Heart rolled her eyes before launching forward.

Ducking her first attack I used the jump jets to dash to the side, bringing my blades around to stab her in the back when Noire decided to join in causing me to abandon my attack on Neptune to avoid taking hits.

"This is still slightly bullshit" I muttered, just managing to block a swing from Noire and using the force from it to put some distance between us.

"This is what happens when you decide to date three goddesses at once" One of the Verts called out.

"Hey I'm not complaining I like a challenge but fighting just one of them would fulfil that criteria!" I shouted back "With the two of them this is like the Ornstien and Smough fight from Dark Souls!"

This gave me an idea but at a very bad time because just as the idea struck me the girls pressed their advantage, Purple Heart's fast and aggressive fighting style being covered by Black Heart's slower but stronger fighting style... Huh these two are like the more attractive version of Ornstien and Smough.

"Stop getting distracted!" Purple Heart shouted her sword just slipping by my defence and stabbing me in the arm.

I could almost hear my nerves scream out in pain as I backed away trying to shake off the familiar feeling of pins and needles spreading from where she stabbed me. Thankfully the barrier was still intact or I would of been down one arm and up one trip to the hospital again.

"Fuck it. Get over here!" I roared through the pain as the grappling hook shot out and attached itself to Black Heart. Before she or Purple Heart could stop it, she was dragged towards me; stumbling the last few yards as I started swinging my blades left and right, tearing into her as I pressed the short advantage I had.

Ignoring her cries of pain as best I could I noticed Purple Heart closing the distance between us rapidly so after swinging both of my blades across her chest I used the momentum to spin myself around to deal a hopefully devastating roundhouse kick to the side of her head before I had to start blocking and countering the wild swings coming from Purple Heart.

"You know I really don't like fighting you two" I managed to say through the pain of another of Purple Heart's attacks slipping through.

"Why is that?" She replied as she half hissed half cried out as one of my swords ran across her leg.

"Beside being a pain and you both are really good?" I grunted before raising my voice and shouting "I love the both of you!"

This caused her to immediately freeze up, her eyes widening like she had forgotten that.

Using the moment to my advantage I swung both swords at the underneath of her sword, launching it high into the air and threw my swords into the floor, before grabbing her and kissing her. Willing her to calm down and see that this fight was started by jealousy and it's doing nothing but hurting the both of us. Feeling a calm wave pass over myself I broke off the kiss and turned to face Noire who had just gotten to her feet and I assume had seen the kiss happen as she looked defeated and about to cry when I walked over and kisses her too. Willing the same thing to her as well. After the familiar calming wave pass over me I broke off the kiss and stepped back.

"Are we done now?" I asked.

"Yeah... I'm sorry for starting this fight I was just so jealous" Purple Heart replied softly before changing back into Neptune and walking over, grabbing one of my hands.

"Same... I was just so scared you were going to leave us" Black Heart spoke up before she too returned to her original form and took my other hand.

"Looks like Thomas won that fight" Blanc #1 spoke up.

"Indeed and it ended better than I thought it would" Vert #2 followed up.

Rolling my eyes at their comments I looked at Neptune and Noire. "You two need to understand I have to spread the love among three of you here and Plutia was just teasing you both. Sure maybe it got a bit out of hand but she didn't want us to fight"

Right on cue Plutia practically glomped Neptune with a string of apologies before she did the same to Noire which caused me to chuckle.

"You okay Thomas? I hit you a bit harder than I intended on your arm" Neptune asked, the worry in her voice was easy to spot.

"Ah I'm fine. The link stopped any real damage its just a feeling of pins and needles going through my arm which bothers me" I replied.

"Neptune!" A voice called out grabbing all our attention, looking over to where it came from IF was standing in the door way leading back into the Basilacom. "Now that you've finished your little lovers quarrel can you help us with D3ath? She has refused to talk at all"

"Well you girls better go and talk to my would be assassin" I shrugged as I walked over and picked up my trench coat.

"You're coming too" Blanc #1 replied coldly before anyone could reply.

"You know I would normally say 'make me' but I have a feeling I know how you would do that" I shuddered almost feeling her hammer hit me. "Let's get moving then no point in wasting time drawing out this chapter"

Taking the steps two at a time while ignoring Neptune muttering about how I'm stealing her job of breaking the forth wall I debated if I should to reflect on D3ath... Nah the authors going to do a time skip anyway.

-ten minutes later-

"Alright D3ath is in here, you girls better go in first and Tom you enter last" IF briefed us.

"Alright miss professional" I rolled my eyes before leaning on the wall beside the door.

"Miss?" IF looked at me raising an eyebrow in question.

"Oh sorry I didn't know the marriage between you and Vert had happened yet" I grinned as the two of the girls blushed heavily while the third looked between them confused. "Allow me to correct myself; Mrs professional. Or would Mrs Green Heart be better?"

"A Anyway let's get in there" IF hastily opened the door and the girls slowly entering the room, Neptune fist bumping me as she went in.

"She's probably gonna try and kill you when she sees you" the author spoke up absentmindedly

"I know and I'm ready for it" I replied shrugging "this bitch is gonna find out the hard way that I'm not gonna let her kill me"

"So. You bring the goddesses to help you this time? I told you I will not speak to any of you who do not need my attention" a cold voice spoke before any of the girls could say anything.

"Oh yeah? What about me then D3ath?" I asked as I turned the corner, crossing my arms with a goading smirk on my face.

D3ath was silent before the room's temperature dropped at a rapid rate and she tore out of her restraints and launched herself at me, I could see pristine teeth bared in a snarl under hood that obscured her features.

Moving forward I grabbed her and threw her into the wall with enough force to crack it thanks to my link with the girls. As D3ath hit the floor I drove my knee into her stomach resulting in a cry of pain from her before it was cut off as I place my recently formed pistol against her temple.

"Wanna have your name changes from D3ath to D3ad?" I spoke in the most intimidating voice I could muster, I'll admit the speed and sudden attack had still taken me by surprise but I wasn't going to back down. "if so try that again and hope that Lady Luck has decided to smile on you. If not stay still then nod twice"

There was a long pause before D3ath slowly nodded twice.

Getting up I held my free hand out to help her up while still holding my pistol on my other hand.

She looked at it for a moment before grabbing it and allowing me to pull her to her feet before looking at me for another tense moment before she pulled her hood down.

Her skin was a very unhealthy pale colour with her eyes colour was a deep and unending abyss of darkness and her hair was an extension of that abyss, no light seemed to shine on her at all. On her right cheek was a tattoo of the number 13 in Roman numerals. She practically screamed "edgy as fuck"

"You really put some effort into describing her there didn't you" I asked the Author while trying to keep a straight face.

"Hey might as well" I could almost hear him shrug in response.

"So who are you?" IF asked. Her question was met with silence as D3ath continued looking at me.

"So who are you?" I repeated casting a glance at IF, she looked more than a little frustrated.

"D3ath. That is who and what I am" she replied, she didn't even blink when she said that.

"So you're the... What? Physical embodiment of Death?" I asked trying to stay professional and stern. This girl had every hair on my body standing on end.

"Yes and no" she replied before she finally blinked "I am physical embodiment of your Death"

"What?" I asked confused.

"Everyone's death looks different and we all act different depending on the person" D3ath clarified.

"Right" I replied looking to IF for help but she simply shrugged.

"That explains you look different from when you were last sighted" IF mused "Can you promise you won't attack Thomas again?"

D3ath looked to me and I gestured for her to answer.

"No, I am his D3ath so I cannot promise such a thing" she replied sounding annoyed.

"You're really going to try and kill me again?" I wasn't too shocked I guess but it was still kinda hard to brush it off.

"If you show me weakness then yes. I am your D3ath, why should I follow your rules and promises?" She glared at me with her lifeless eyes.

"I beat you twice" I shrugged. "Anyone who can beat their Death should surely command deaths respect?"

"The first time was a fluke nothing more" D3ath looked away as her cheeks seemed to turn slightly gray. "This time I had no weapons to fight you with"

"Masochist" I rolled my eyes before shrugging. "Whatever try killing me again I'll still put you on the floor"

"And this time we will help" Noire followed up, crossing her arms under her chest as she glared at D3ath.

There was a brief pause as everyone stared at D3ath, D3ath glared at me and I narrated the scene.

"Well then I'd say this investigation is over" I shrugged walking over to the door.

"No way is it done!" IF shouted.

"Well you go ahead and continue questioning her. I'm tired!" I shouted back. "Fighting two jealous but adorable goddesses is rather draining ya know?"

Leaving with a short wave I got into the elevator, pressing the button to go up to the guest floor. Fighting those girls took way too much out of me to deal with D3ath. Or should I say my D3ath now? That sounds kinda kinky. I'll have to debate on that while I slept.

After entering my room I locked the door first as I wouldn't be surprised if D3ath tried something while I was asleep so hopefully this'll work as a early warning. I don't doubt for a second that she'll kill me if given a chance and I'd rather not strain this link I have with Neptune and Noire. I have no idea how much strain it'll put on them if I take some serious damage.

After removing my top and getting changed into my sleepwear (I'm not telling you what I wear to sleep for any of you hopeful lot. This story shall stay as a Teen!) I fell into my bed, falling asleep almost immediately. How am I narrating this? Um... Fourth wall breaking to the extreme?

-4 hours later-

Jerking awake my eye darted around the room, looking for anyone. I know someone is around here. The room is dark, barely any light shone through...

Slipping out of my bed quietly I decided against pulling a top on and instead I pulled the combat trousers I was wearing before back on while still glancing around.

"Where are you..." I muttered looking around the place. As I turned to look behind me a knife suddenly rocketed towards me from the darkness, it's blade was almost as dark as my surroundings while a pale arm held onto the blade tightly.

Reacting on instincts I formed a cross guard with my arms to catch the arm; a split second after it had landed I grabbed the just above the wrist, so my arm was out of reach of the blade, while my other hand snaked out to where I assumed the head was. Grabbing it I pulled them around so they were in front of me and their head was lowered; bringing my knee up sharply I heard a sharp cry of pain and they dropped the knife before I repeated the action resulting in a similar but higher pitch sound.

Reaching down and locking my hand under their chin and pulled their head up and back sharply while firmly planting my foot behind their legs causing them to trip over. As they fell I managed to get a glance at their pale face, their eyes were black while their cheeks were a dark grey. Still not done I gripped their arm and used it to pull them onto their chest and after twisting their arm around so I had them in another arm lock I placed my knee into their lower back resulting in another cry of pain.

"From the brief descriptions I've been given between the grapple we've just had I know it's you D3ath" I grunted with dissatisfaction.

"I'm... Going to kill... You..." She panted rather heavily, squirming under my knee.

Shrugging I drove my knee into her back harder causing her to gasp sharply and stop squirming.

"You really are a masochist" I mumbled embarrassed. "You're really pushing the boundaries of this story being a teen. Heck after this chapter the author may have to make it a mature story"

"W what?" She asked confused still panting slightly.

"Nothing. Look go have a shower for as long as you need then we need to talk" I replied letting go and backing away.

D3ath got up and looked at me for a moment before she walked into the bathroom as silent as a mouse. After a while the sounds of a shower could be heard and while that happened I decided now would be the perfect opportunity to put a top on. Next chapter is going to be fun talking to D3ath after that


	22. Chapter 22

Now I'd like say that when D3ath got out the conversation was easy, I was able to convince her to stop attacking me and said something along the lines of "we'll bang ok?"

Obviously it didn't go anything like that. So let's have a little flashback to when she got out of the shower.

-30 mins ago-

My head snapped around when I heard the door open and D3ath stepped out. She was back in her previous attire and was currently drying her hair with a purple towel.

"Feeling better?" I asked trying to avoid staring at her, what? Even if she looks different to a normal human she still looked good. Hey don't judge me there are people who think Krogans from mass effect are hot.

She didn't reply except to nod and continue drying her hair.

"Well shall we start negotiations then?" I asked trying to avoid making a joke. Something tells me this girl doesn't have a sense of humour similar to mine.

Looking at me she raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded still drying her hair.

"Good talk so far" I muttered before pointing to the opposite end of my bed "why don't you sit down?"

Doing as I asked she sat cross legged on my bed facing towards me, a look of minor annoyance on her face as she still dried her hair.

"Do... You want some help?" I asked hesitantly.

"You'd help a girl who tried to kill you dry her hair?" She replied stopping what she was doing and looking at me while raising an eye-brow.

"Every girl I've met has tried to kill me, except for the NPC's, Iffy and Compa. So yeah I would" I shrugged reaching under my bed and pulling out a hair dryer.

Now you guys must be curious as to why I have a hair dryer. Plutia has a lot of hair and I offered to dry it for her and she accepted going into her room and coming back with a hair dryer. While it was a fun experience it ended with Plutia falling asleep and I ended up taking her back into her room with Neptune sniggering as I tried to prise Plutia off of me.

Shrugging D3ath shifted so her back was towards me and stiffened slightly as I began drying her hair. I guess I'm not surprised I mean she is in a vulnerable position, not in that way you pervs, so it's pretty normal to be tense.

"So what do I have to offer you so you stop trying to kill me?" I started off as I continued moving the hair dryer up and down her hair. Her hair was surprisingly soft to the touch.

"There is nothing you can offer me. I am your death so I must fulfil my job" D3ath responded in a monotone

"But do you have to kill me now?" I asked catching onto a possible loop hole

"What do you mean?" Her head cocked to the side slightly

"Sure you are my death I'll believe you" I replied shrugging "But do you have to kill me now? Why not wait till I die in a battle or something and take my soul or something then?"

"I..." She trailed off apparently going deep into thought

"Nothing is forcing you to kill me right now is there?"

"No... but..." She murmured deep in thought

"But what?"

"What would I do while I wait for you to finally die?"

"Help me? Laze about and live your life how you want to?"

"But if I helped you surely I would be stopping myself from completing what I must do?"

"If you look at it that way then yes, but if you see it differently then you won't be as much"

"How should I see it?"

"If I die to some puny monster early on in this story, well the readers won't be too happy that the story ends a prematurely because a dogoo got a lucky hit in"

"So?"

"Help me reach the explosive climax of the story, where if I do die then you can reap me and then the readers will be happy. Well unless they wanted a happy ending but if they have read Shadow of Ash then they should know my stories could suddenly go dark"

Another awkward pause arouse between us as I finished up drying her hair. I'm pretty sure I can hear Noire groaning from all the 4th wall breaking. Hope the migraine doesn't hurt too much.

"Readers?" She asked turning and looking at me while cocking an eyebrow

"The ones reading this Fanfiction right now" I shrugged.

"This... Fanfiction?" She asked again looking even more confused

"Yeah wave to them" I replied with a grin. Oh using the 4th wall to mess with people is way too much fun.

"No" D3ath flatly responded

"Boo" I rolled my eyes "So do we have a deal? You don't try and kill me?"

"Fine we have a deal" D3ath let a small smile slip onto her face before becoming deadly serious again "But do not tell anyone about what transpired between us"

"You mean the masoc-" I started before she clamped a hand over my mouth, her cheeks tinged with the familiar grey.

"Yes. That" She replied slowly "Deal?"

Deciding it was best to avoid pushing my luck I nodded my head and she sat back and breathed a sigh of relief before the darkness around my room suddenly disappeared.

"I shall return to the room the girls had me in before, next time they through they should employ guards who can stay awake through the night and ones who can lock a door" She shrugged before silently leaving through the door without a look back.

"Well... that was a thing" I breathed a sigh of relief flumped back onto my bed and quickly fell asleep again.

-three hours later-

"Come on cutie you need to wake up~" A voice purred in my ear, but of course I was still about ninety per cent asleep so I couldn't make out the speaker

"No thanks..." I managed to mumble "Five more minutes?"

"Nope~" The voice replied, popping the 'p' "You owe me remember? So today you're all mine"

"I owe you?" I mumbled trying to get my brain to finish its morning cup of tea "I don't owe anyone anything... Wait... I don't owe Neptune..."

"Cute as she may be I'm not Neptune" The voice giggled

"I don't owe Noire anything..." I mumbled my brain slowly beginning to process the information while my eyes began working.

"I'm definitely not Noire" The voice giggled again, sounding a little louder like they were speaking in my ear "Try again~"

"I definitely don't owe Blanc or Vert anything... so you must be..." I had barely finished that sentence before alarm bells began ringing as my brain made the connection. Seductive and sexy voice? Pushy and forward? Cute and sexy?

My eyes snapped open to see Iris Heart sitting just below my chest while she had her hands pinned either side of my head, she wore a simply black and white dress with a Iris coloured rose on the side of her hair. A large grin was plastered on her face as she could see I was fully awake now.

"Its me" She licked her lips while continuing her predatory stare and grin.

"Yeah I guessed" I tried to sound confident but failed miserably.

"So sweetheart are you ready to pay me back?" She purred running a finger along my cheek softly, it was like she was leaving a trail of fire along it.

"O Of course" I stammered as she drew closer, my eyes could tear themselves away from hers.

"Excellent" She replied with a similar purr before kissing me quickly, the usual heat barely having time to rise (Take that as you will) before she broke it off and climbed off. "What do you think?"

Giving a quick twirl the skirt part of the dress rose slightly revealing black, knee high stocking running down to black heels to go with her dress.

"You look really good" I replied smiling feeling my brain drop down from Defcon 5 to Defcon 3

"Stop it you'll make me blush~" Iris giggled before opening the front door "I'll see you in the reception area handsome, don't keep me waiting too long and dress in that sexy suit of yours!"

With that she swept out of my room within seconds, a tornado of love, fire and domination.

"Best move faster killer, don't want her to be upset about taking too long" The Author whispered kicking my brain into overdrive.

Rolling out of bed I jumped into the shower quickly scrubbing any dirt off my body before rushing over to the suit that was hanging off the side of my wardrobe, a note on it reading "Looking good handsome~" followed by a purple kiss telling me Iris had been there, and began getting changed into it quickly.

"I really hope Iris is a switch" I muttered pulling the shirt on.

"Why's that?" The Author asked

"Because if she is then I can counter some of her pushiness and make her be the one blushing" I replied, buttoning it up.

"If not?"

"Then I'm probably going to have a permanent blush on my face all day"

After finishing getting changed I straightened the collar on the suit before opening the door.

"Ah Thomas I was jus-" IF spoke up from my right before I raised a hand sharply to stop her.

"Whatever it is it'll have to wait" I replied not looking at her, instead into the distance at the trees and mountains on the horizon.

"What? Why?" IF asked confused and slightly annoyed

"I have a date with Iris Heart and it is going to last all day" I managed to say aloud, already feeling my face warm up slightly.

"Good luck" IF barely whispered

Turning sharply to her I nodded before making my way towards the elevator shaft, like a soldier walking his final few steps before he sacrifices himself for the good of the team... I've been playing too many video games.

Entering the elevator I turned and looked back at IF as the door closed and gave her a short salute before the doors closed,

"Do you really think its gonna end that badly?" The Author asked

"Probably, if it doesn't end with a fight it'll probably be me threatening someone to back off" I shrugged

"So why do you sound so carefree about it?"

"Well beside me being able to create any weapon I want just by putting my mind to it I am going to be with Iris Heart" I rolled my eyes "So I'm pretty sure I am safe"

"Point taken"

Before I could follow up with some sass however the doors opened and after taking a deep breath stepped out into the reception area.

"Well you certainly didn't take your time" Iris purred snaking her arm around my own.

"When you have a date with a very important goddess you don't want her standing on ceremony" I grinned already going into smooth operator mode.

"Oh you spoil me~" Iris giggled before pulling my arm towards her chest before leading me outside "Now this very important goddess wishes to begin the date"

First place we went to was a clothing shop (Surprise surprise) but this time it was for Iris, she said she needed more clothes but I sincerely doubted that as the clothes she chose got slowly more and more revealing until I was forced to drag her out of the shop with my face burning up from embarrassment. Why am I telling you like this? Because we are heading to a café and this is where I would take my revenge.

"Oh they look so tasty~" Iris smiled, bending over slightly to look at a row of brightly coloured cupcakes.

"Not as tasty as you though" I grinned, she had presented a perfect opportunity to start my revenge spree.

Iris looked over at me with a grin, batting her eyes at me, before returning her attention at the cupcakes.

"Damn guess I'll need to push this to the next level" I growled under my breath as I sat in a nearby booth.

Looking around in a half desperate bid to find something that could help me tease her, my attention settled on the woman behind the counter; something about them just did not seem right, like they were out of place and they knew it. They shifted about the place and looked exceedingly nervous.

But before I could stand up and make a point of it Iris suddenly stepped in front of them blocking my view of them, soon after she turned and started towards me holding a cupcake.

"I thought we could share this" Iris grinned placing the bright purple cupcake on the table "It'll be an indirect kiss every time we do it~"

"You're so childish sometimes" I chuckled pushing the thoughts of the woman out of my mind.

With her usual grin she took a small bite out of the cupcake, closing her eyes in appreciation.

"Hey Iris?" I saw another chance of revenge on her lips. I'll let you all guess what is going to happen next.

"Yes cutie?" She looked up curiously when I reached forward and wiped a piece of icing that had gotten on the side of her lips off and stuck the finger in my mouth.

"You missed a bit sweetheart" I winked at her as her eyes widened slightly before they narrowed as her usual predatory grin took over.

"So that is how you want to play it huh~?" She purred winking at me.

"Can't let you have all the fun" I tried to sound confident to hide the fear welling up inside me, because I may have just triggered her dominant side.

Before I could take the cupcake and take a bite out of it she pulled it away, apparently she had a devious plan in mind.

"Say ah~" She cooed, breaking off a bit of the cupcake off and holding it out to me.

"Really?"

"Yup, you can do this to me afterwards"

Rolling my eyes I did as she asked and she smirked as she placed the cupcake in my mouth. The icing was smooth and brought a whole array of flavours to my mind as the chocolate base followed up with a rich and also smooth texture.

"Is it good?" she asked sweetly

"Yeah it's quite good" I replied before taking the cupcake "Your turn, say ah"

"Aaah~" She replied, opening her mouth and half closing her eyes.

Trying to keep any perverted thoughts from entering my mind, (I know at least one of you will be thinking those thoughts) I broke off a piece of the cupcake and rested it on her tongue but before I could remove my fingers fully her lips clamped around it and she held me hand so I couldn't pull it away as she... ahem... licked the crumbs off my fingers.

"Now Iris my dear I am not a cupcake" I managed to keep my voice level despite the vast array of emotions going through me.

"But you're sweet like one and I bet you could really fill me up~" She purred

"Ok now I know you are trying to make this an M-rated story" I rolled my eyes trying to avoid twitching my finger. That's when I noticed that the woman had suddenly disappeared, then something felt wrong.

Looking at Iris as she started reaching for the cupcake I knocked it across the room where it hit the wall with a _thud._

"What the-" She started but after that point I missed the rest as my body failed me and I collapsed, hitting the floor hard. From the way she had suddenly became rigid tells me it had just hit her as well.

Looking around I heard a pair of heels clicking against the floor until a pair of black boots came into my field of view and an evil laugh belonging to what sounds like a very old lady.

"Looks like even the CPU's from another realm can't resist a simple cupcake" She cackled before my eyes refused to stay open anymore.

This casual date went from a very happy and nice thing with only a "little" sexual tension to suddenly kidnappings by an old lady. Hooray! Here comes the next cliff-hanger while the author tries to avoid making this go extremely dark. Wish him luck.


	23. Chapter 23

Everyone here? We haven't left anyone back at that last cliff-hanger have we? Good. Let's get back to this mess of a date with Iris.

Finally I felt the strength slowly start bleeding back into my body and my eyes managed to open slowly. The walls of the room I was in were a dark grey while weird machines made various sounds from all around me. A glass tube surrounded me while various masked scientists bustled about the place pressing various buttons on more weird machines. This is looking like something out of a horror game or something.

"Ah you're awake" An old voice spoke from behind me when a rather nasty looking scientist stepped into view. He was short and as thin as a stick; along his face lay dozens of scars and stitches while his eyes spoke of a hidden madness.

"No I'm still asleep" I replied sarcastically. "So want to explain to me why you've got me stuck in this cage?"

"Ah yes the containment chamber" He smirked walking over to the consoles "We are going to be running a little test on you, your darling Iris gave us enough power to do this"

"You son of a bitch!" I shouted slamming my hands against the glass, it somehow didn't even crack from how hard I hit it "What did you do to her!?"

"She is safe, her friends should be arriving soon but they will be too late to save you" He smiled broadly as the walls shook as if an explosion had gone off close by, all the scientists looked towards the door nervously but continued their work soon after. "You are completely at my mercy"

"So what are you going to do to me?" I crossed my arms trying to think of a way out quickly before I remembered my link with Foxie and began pushing out, trying to reach him at least.

"Your link with the girls will not work, we are currently nullifying it" He smirked "There are more than a few ways to nullify a link between the goddesses"

"Sure that is totally what I'm doing" I rolled my eyes while failing to hide the smirk on my face as Foxie returned my ping and began heading towards me fast.

"Something isn't right, he is too cocky..." His brow darkened "How long until the portal is ready?"

"Soon! Soon!" A scientist replied, tapping away at the keys even faster, something told me he wasn't the type of guy who enjoyed failure.

"Hurry old friend" I muttered trying to form a weapon of any kind but something was really blocking my connection with the girls, good thing I keep an ace up my sleeve for just the occasion huh?

"What have you done?" He glared at me as I looked around the place.

"Who me? I haven't done a thing" I gave my best wolf grin sticking my hand into my pocket and feeling my back up plan was still there. Score one to the man in the suit.

"Pilot" I heard Foxie's voice in my head "We are nearing the room, be ready"

"You know what they say..." I chuckled gathering the attention of everyone in the room as I pulled a small silver ball from my pocket, twisting it slightly and letting my grin grow as it grew until it was the size of a small ball with sharp blue lights flashing from it "Lights out"

Letting go of the EMP grenade a wave of blue energy flew out and caused the room to go out, lifting the block in my head too. At the same time Foxie burst through the doorway with Noire behind him, her face was a mix of fear and rage.

As the scientists scattered Foxie bounded up to the glass and tore it to pieces with his claws before quickly attaching himself to my around my body like before, but this time his head went around mine giving me an advanced HUD of my immediate area.

But before any action could start something exploded into life and I barely managed to jump forward and dig my claws into the ground before part of the wall behind my containment chamber was almost torn off its hinges revealing a massive, unstable portal.

Spears of lightning came flashing out, slamming into various consoles and people, causing them to disintegrate before they could even scream. Looking around I could see Noire had dug her sword into the floor and held on with grim determination while the old scientist wailed in fear as he held onto a terminal that hadn't been destroyed yet.

"How do you turn this off!?" I shouted over the roar of the portal.

"You can't unless you go in!" He cried "It was designed so that the girls would get here to see you thrown in and lost forever!"

"Pilot he is correct" I heard Foxie speak in my ears "The energy coming off that portal match the ones recorded when you arrived in this dimension that were recorded by Nepgear"

"If you do not the whole world could be destroyed!" He cried out.

"Damn guess this is my time to shine" I muttered "Foxie off you get buddy, can't run the risk of you getting hurt in this"

"Pilot I-" He tried but I wasn't giving him a choice.

"Override code: Alpha, Charlie, Echo" I muttered causing Foxie to shudder.

"Awaiting command Pilot" He replied in a monotone voice.

"Sorry old pal but I can't let you get hurt. You'll need to find me after this is over anyway" I muttered before looking over at Noire who was looking back at me with a look of horror and fear. She had already guessed what was going to happen. "Sorry sweetheart"

"Foxtrot, release your Pilot"

Feeling the clamps on my back disappear I didn't close my eyes as it felt like the world went in slow motion, Foxie returning to his senses but not able to move, instead all he could do was howl mournfully as I fell. Noire, screaming my name as I fell the last few meters to the portal. Her tears following me down until I had fully passed through.

-Back on earth-

"Alright thanks for locking up Ethan!" His boss called out as he left the bar to a smiling young man, a man who is in the prime of his life; full of potential.

But as soon as the manager was gone his face dropped and his eyes were filled with a sea of sadness as he pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels out of the cupboard behind him.

"This always was his favourite" He muttered before pulling out a small silver lighter with a singular spade etched onto both sides "And this was his trusty lighter"

With a heavy sigh he poured himself a shot of the whiskey and placed the lighter on the counter as he felt the tears well up in his eyes. His best friend; his brother was gone. Forever.

"Why god damn it? He didn't deserve to die, not from something as stupid as that" He cried, unable to bring himself to drink the whiskey as the tear's began to fall "He would of wanted to go out swinging, taking down whoever took him down too. So why..."

Collapsing against the wall he let himself slip down it as he closed his eyes in his grief, today it was just too much to make it through without grieving again.

Suddenly his ears popped and something was thrown into the chairs in front of the bar; unsure of what to do he slowly picked himself up and peered over the edge.

"Fuck me I forgot how much crashing into stuff hurts" A voice complained, a voice that sounded strangely familiar "Why isn't the POV on me anymore?"

A figure stood up stretching himself off and brushing dirt off his white suit after stretching his limbs out. His hair still had dirt in it but he didn't seem fazed about it as he looked about the place like he had lost something.

"Well I'll look for it after I've grabbed a drink, I mean no one's here" He shrugged and turned before spotting Ethan. "oh well erm... this is awkward"

Looking at his face Ethan just couldn't believe it, it was...

"Thomas!?" Ethan shouted in shock

"Whoa whoa calm down!" He exclaimed raising his hands in surrender "First give me the POV back"

"What?"

-POV returned-

"That's better" I chuckled rolling my shoulders as Ethan looked at me both confused and shocked.

"How are you here?" He almost shouted almost falling over himself as he went around the bar "Y You're dead!?"

"Yeah I decided I didn't like that" I replied with my usual grin before motioning to the chair beside me "You'd best sit down as this story will take a while to explain. I mean it's already twenty-two chapters long"

Sitting beside me I began to tell him the story you've all been reading, brushing off his questions till I had finished and it took a while; explaining some points took a couple attempts at explaining till he finally understood what I mean.

"So any questions?" I replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah here's one: Why did you put down 5ft 12in instead of 6ft?" He smiled already knowing my answer

"Because I'm weird and it seemed to be triggering some viewers" I laughed, you guys really do need to stop commenting on it as I'm not going to change it.

"Well what are you going to do now? I don't see any portal for you to go back through"

"Well the only thing I can really do is hide until something happens, either a portal opens again or someone finds me"

"Well you might as well come back to my place then, your place is... well..."

"Trashed? Ruined? Yeah I remember don't worry"

Leaving the bar together I didn't need to ask him to see how badly my apparent death had struck him, the bags under his eyes and over-cheerful demeanour was enough to tell me that he struggled to cope most of the time, barely able to keep the facade up that he was fine.

Soon enough a week had passed and still nothing; then another, not a whisper about strange lightings or even a voice in my head. The Author was keeping silent as well, either he was planning something too or was otherwise occupied.

Eventually I had to ditch the white suit for enough cash to buy my own clothing: a black hoodie, cargo pants of a similar colour combining that with black military gloves, black ski goggles and a skull mask people. Now of course I didn't go out with the mask and goggles at the same time but I generally had them on hand in case I needed them such as when I spotted people who lived in the same apartment block I used to live in.

"Well those girls sure do know how to take their time" I muttered, pulling out a cigarette, lighting it and feeling the time slip by again as I stared out of the window.

That is when I noticed it, a streak of purple lighting streaked across the sky so fast I almost missed it, causing a grin to spread across my face.

"Yo man I'm home!" I heard Ethan shout from downstairs.

"Hey man you should get changed and get in here quickly!" I shouted excitedly, stubbing out the cigarette and turning a couple fans on to remove the stench of smoke. I didn't smoke often, once a month really but even one can smell pretty bad.

It didn't take him long to enter, wearing his usual smart attire. Out of the two of us he had the looks, combining that with his smart but casual attire women were often coming over to chat with him so much that when the occasional women came over to chat I was more often than not caught off guard.

"I can already tell you've been smoking" He scrunched his nose before nodding to a fan going at full blast.

"Correct you may be that is not why I called you here" I shushed him standing up and pointing out of the window "Just saw some purple"

"Some purple?" Ethan looked at me confused before understanding shone in eyes.

"Yeah means that they must be close" I barely managed to finish before the same portal began forming just outside the window "And here we are"

"What are you going to do?" Ethan asked looking at me, it was clear he didn't want to be separated again.

"Go through, I have to" I shrugged pulling my mask up and slipping my ski goggles over my eyes "Question is what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"You going to come with me or are you just going to stay here? I mean here all you are going to do is just work in a bar while over there..." I trailed off.

"It is going to be dangerous you know?"

"Yeah I know but then again when wasn't adventure dangerous?"

"True."

"So?"

"Alright I'm in"

"Awesome well follow me!" I shouted running up to the window and jumping through into the portal, I could hear Ethan shout something in Japanese before he jumped in after me.

This portal felt the same as the previous one as I flipped over and over.

"How do you stop this thing!?" Ethan shouted from above me

"Just enjoy it, if this is exactly like the previous portal I was in the exit is going to be really fun!" I shouted "Hey Author are you back now?"

"Hell yeah little buddy" I heard him chuckle as we continued spinning "And to answer your question its exactly like the first one"

"Ethan!" I shouted managing to stop myself from spinning so I was facing him. "You really need to get to me now!"

"Why?"

"Because we are about to play out the intro to Gorod Krovi!" I managed to shout before the portal opened up, spitting us out above the world of Neptunia once more.

"See you next chapter viewers!" I managed to shout before we fell, plummeting towards the ground, Ethan screaming like a baby this time.


	24. Chapter 24

Falling downwards I noticed something that probably should have been apparent in the last chapter. Everything was ruined, the grass and woods looked like it was dying; trees bore few leaves and the grass was no longer an emerald green like it was before.

Only the city remained standing, but even that looked dead. It looks like something had sucked all the life out of the surrounding area and now we were falling into the aftermath.

"Author what the hell have you done!?" I shouted,

"Wait why me?" He replied offended,

"You said you would resist making it fucking dark!"

"Its not as dark as it could be!"

"Yeah no shit!"

"Hey its fine, this is just the next story plot line"

"If Noire or Neptune is hurt I swear to god I will read between the lines"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me!"

"Hey Tom not that I mean to break up your lover's quarrel with the Author but we are still falling towards the solid ground here!" Ethan shouted breaking up the argument between four separate walls.

"Ah its fine I'll just make us a parachute and we'll float down" I replied back thinking of a parachute.

A moment passed. Then another.

"Uh Author where's that parachute?" I asked uneasily, dreading the answer that is going to come.

"I decided it was time to nerf you, the ability to craft whatever you want at any point is way too overpowered, so good luck mini-me!" He chuckled as we continued to fall.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" I cried out flipping the bird towards the sky.

"Dude I thought you had some kick ass powers or something!?" Ethan shouted

"I did but apparently I've been nerfed!" I shouted back.

"Are you serious? Why!?"

"Well because apparently crafting whatever I want at will is OP"

"Well yeah it is"

"Are you seriously taking the author's side on this?"

"Well it is! How can you worry about challenge when you have essentially infinite equipment?"

"Well there are the difference in levels"

"Yeah but still, you could just make a minigun and have such a ridiculously high rate of fire that level difference wont matter"

"We are still falling here!"

"Yeah but now you've got me rolling so I can't stop now!"

"You are such a pain!"

"You know falling and arguing is great for comedy but not for survival!"

-meanwhile in the city-

"Foxy suddenly bounding out of Nep juniors workshop in your big mecha destruction form isn't cool ya know!" Neptune shouted, clinging onto the side of Foxhound. "Especially when I'm stuck on the side of you still!"

"It is urgent so I needed to go now" Foxie replied "I apologise"

"You would of thought with all that's been happening and me being the main character I'd be treated with a bit more respect" Neptune grumbled "Now I know what it feels like to be Noire"

"Approaching landing site, Neptune it would be advised if you climbed to a more secure position" Foxie advised, slowing down.

"Nep what? Uh okay?" Climbing up, Neptune spotted two black spots in the sky falling towards them. "What is that? More monsters from Arfoire?"

"Incorrect, it is the pilot and a friend of his"

"The pilot? Wait... it can't be"

-back to our heroes-

"Well this was a great adventure!" Ethan shouted

"Its not over yet!" I shouted back

"Why's that?"

"DEUS VULT!"

At that point we seemingly hit something, but it wasn't something hard like I was expecting but more like water.

"Neptune I am deactivating the vortex shield so get ready to grab them before they get too high" A robotic voice said before I felt a pair of hands grab onto my shoulders as we were launched back up again but not with the same amount of force a vortex shield would launch someone, it was more like the little bounces you get when you try to stop in a bouncy castle.

"It's been a while!" I heard a cheerful voice from behind me giggle "Man you always know how to make an entrance"

Looking behind me just as we reached the peak of the bounce I could see Neptune's grinning face.

"Neptune!" I grinned

"The one and not the same. You'll probably see when Foxie catches us" She smirked as we began falling again.

"Thomas when can we get off Mr Bones's wild ride!?" Ethan called out

"Soon just hold on for a bit longer!" I replied, the grin still plastered on my face.

Soon enough I felt cold metal on my back and I let go of Ethan, relaxing into Neptune's grip.

"Kept you waiting huh Foxie?" I looked up to him, Nepgear clearly had enough time to finally give him his vanguard chassis and it looked good on him. The light reflecting off the metal, purple stripes standing out against the charcoal black paint.

"Indeed pilot, though I believe miss Neptune may have missed you more" Foxie replied, his voice still close to Cayde from Destiny.

"I guessed from how she's currently holding me how Plutia holds stuffed toys" I laughed.

"Ya know Tom I've got to admit I wasn't thinking I'd see a real life titan in my life" Ethan muttered getting up and looking up and down Foxie.

"Ethan meet Foxie, Foxie meet Ethan" I gave a basic introduction. "Now lets head back to the Basilicom, its time to get reacquainted with everyone"

"Affirmative" Slowly Foxie turned around and walking in the direction of the Basilacom.

"So uh Tom? It may be wise to have a decent look at Neptune while you are still being held by your giant robot" Ethan coughed before looking at the surrounding area.

"What do you mean?" Pulling out of Neptune's grip I looked at her and slightly froze. She was more than a little different, goddesses shouldn't age so why was the adult version of Neptune sitting in the palm of Foxie's hand with an awkward grin on her face.

"Heya Tom Tom" She chuckled while scratching the back of her head "Long time no see?"

"Neptune... what have you done?" I replied

"heh... well its best to leave that to Histoire, my memory is a little foggy right now" She winked, rapping her knuckles against her head. "But hey now I'm just like you said all that time ago right?"

"Big but still you? Well yeah obviously"

"Well as I just saved your life so I think I deserve some compensation"

"I should have known you wouldn't have saved my life for free" I rolled my eyes but still smiled as she got up and hugged me.

"Hey the main character doesn't have to do everything for free" She retorted.

"Aww look the newlywed couple" Ethan chuckled

"Oh shush Mr Jealous" I countered "Just because you haven't gotten to meet Blanc yet"

"Hey I'm just saying you two are like one"

-Ten minutes of bickering, teasing and fourth wall breaking later-

As we neared the Basilicom we took a slight turn towards where Nepgear's once hidden workshop rested, the doors looking like they have been torn off their hinges; I guess we can thank Foxie for that. The inside looked relatively similar to when I last saw it, except for what looked like the corner of a display case hidden just inside one of the various rooms.

"Nep Jr we're back!" Neptune called out "With extra guests!"

"Guests?" Nepgear's head poked around the door, she had a welding mask on so it was impossible to see her face "Who are they"

"Well when we reach the floor again I shall show you" Neptune called back as Foxie continued inside the building and back into the place he stood last time. Various tools and ladders were around it with more than a couple laying on the floor as collateral damage for him breaking out to catch me and Ethan.

Slowly his hand moved downward to the point when we were able to drop down. Neptune went first, followed by Ethan; which resulted in a gasp of shock and a few muttered questioned so I thought I would drop the biggest bomb shell by jumping off Foxie's hand.

"T Thomas!?" Nepgear gasped, taking half a pace backwards "I I thought..."

"Come on you can't believe the main hero, beside Neptune here, could stay out forever" I smirked

Nepgear tried to speak but no words left her mouth as tears started slowly welling in her eyes. She moved forward and hugged me while silently weeping, after a moment's hesitation I hugged her back.

"Nep Jr! stop stealing my man!" Neptune almost growled before hugging me as well.

Looking over at Ethan I could just see the smirk on his face through all the pink and purple hair. He was enjoying this way too much for someone who just came to a completely different dimension.

"Ethan don't you dare" I glared at him,

"Why not?" He replied, his smirk changing to a grin and growing larger by the second.

"Because I have two girls hugging me I don't need you to start hugging me as well"

"But it would be funny"

"I don't care if it would be funny, two hugs are more than enough"

"But dude come on"

"No means no you muppet"

"Who are you? Captain Price?"

"Well you'd best not be any other character from that series or you won't last long"

The accursed Ding! Of the elevator caught everyone's attention, causing us to look over in its direction as a very tired and bedraggled Histoire floated out, she had a cup of what I could guess was coffee and a really tired smile on her face.

"Ah good it worked" She said as she floated over to us "it has taken us a very long time to find you again"

"A long time huh?" I echoed looking down to the older but still not very matured Neptune "Yeah I can guess. I can also guess something big has gone down with all the dead plants everywhere"

"That would be correct, in the years you were gone a lot has gone down but wi-"

"Years!? I was gone for like two weeks!"

"Yes I thought as much, the time frame between the two dimensions is great indeed; but that is of little concern as now you will need to rest"

"Yeah that sounds about right"

"A drink would be nice!" Ethan spoke up

"Alcoholic!" I shouted over to him

"Bite me!" He shouted back

"Hey no cheating on me!" Neptune growled, poking my cheek.

"It's not cheating it's just... aggressive friendship" I shrugged.

"Like I said you two need rest. We can talk to you about everything that has occurred since you have been gone afterwards" Histoire sighed "Come along"

"I'll stay here and continue work on Foxie" Nepgear let go of me and smiled sweetly "Come back down later so we can catch up too"

"Will do Nepgear, its good to see you again" I grinned and patted her on the head resulting in another poke of annoyance from Neptune.

"You too" Nepgear grinned before moving over to Foxie

"Well time to enter the elevator of doom" I groaned walking forward with Neptune and Ethan behind.

Somehow we managed to fit without being too pushed against each other and the ride up didn't take too long thankfully. I feel like I'm being choked. But then again that may be from the overly-affectionate Neptune.

"Ya know Neptune I didn't think you could be this affectionate" I commented dryly while still hugging her back. "You're breaking character"

"With a story like this we might as well be original characters" Neptune replied "Anyway why are you complaining? Unless... Le Gasp! You found someone else!"

"What? No!" I retort while she looked at me with hurt eyes,

"Pfft Tom isn't that good" Ethan rolled his eyes and scoffs

"Doing better than you!" I counter as the doors open and I push out trying my best to avoid starting a roast session between me and Ethan again.

"Anyway there are a few available guest rooms just up ahead" Histoire said shaking her head with a soft smile on her lips "It is good to have you back Thomas, Neptune has become dreadfully bored without you"

"Yeah I guessed" I chuckled "Well we will hopefully see you guys in a couple hours"

"Well I'll show you there" Neptune grinned stepping off the elevator before being pulled back on by Histoire. "Hey Histoire let me go!"

"We will talk to you in a couple hours then" Histoire smiled sweetly as the doors closed and the elevator began moving away.

"Dude how can Histoire hold someone back she's so small" Ethan asked nervously

"She is really strong. She could probably throw Iris around if she was given the chance" I rolled my eyes before setting off down the hallway, Ethan on my heels.

"So... What's with Neptune?" Ethan asked

"Now I could act like a dumb anime protagonist and say 'I dunno' but I'm not going to" I replied shrugging "For her two years has passed between us seeing each other. For me two weeks so it's pretty obvious she's missed me terribly"

"You know you have two more girls who might be like that right?"

"Yeah.. I'm more worried about what one of them is going to do"

"So where are we supposed to be staying?"

"Well I'd suggest you take the room further down the hall" Stopping in front of my old room I pointed him in the direction of another door "Best put up a sign so they know you are in that room"

Putting my hand on the handle I felt a pang of nostalgia run through my system before I opened the door. My room was how I left it, the closet half open revealing some of the clothing I had before, a mirror on the stand and... a body in the bed?

"Wait what?" I asked aloud before walking over to the body. They were curled up on the bed and were breathing deeply like they were asleep. The doll tightly gripped by them told me who they were immediately. "Plutia?"

Slowly the small CPU sat up and stretched, yawning deeply before looking around with sleep filled eyes eventually settling on me.

"Tom Tom?" She murmured, squinting at me "Is that you?"

"Yeah its me" I smiled with a pang of guilt. With the difference in time passing I could only imagine how it felt with me gone. Not trying to sound vain but I was pleasantly surprised Neptune stayed feeling the same towards me, especially after learning the time difference I would of thought they would of moved on from me.

"Am I dreaming?" Her eyes were slowly gaining more life in them as she woke up more but at the same time they were filling with tears. "If so I don't want to continue this dream"

"No this isn't a dream Plutia" I chuckled before poking her on the forehead "Felt that didn't ya?"

"Tom Tom..." She sniffed before getting up and jumping on me, hugging me tightly as I returned the gesture. Getting to do this again, hug one of the girls who I love more than anything in the world again; I'll admit I didn't think it was possible.

Setting Plutia down we both looked at each other with a grin before her eyes suddenly went wide at the thought of something.

"What's up Plutia?" I asked confused and curious

"I just remembered I got you something in case I did find you again" She smiled sweetly before a sharp flash of light filled my eyes Iris Heart stood before me with her usual predatory grin. "You've been a really naughty doggy leaving me for two years"

"P Plutia?" I stammered taking a step backwards, I've forgotten how terrifying Iris Heart can be. Especially when she's giving me the look a starving dog gives to a three course meal.

"Now be a good little puppy and come here" She cooed, beckoning me over.

"T This isn't what rest is described as 'resting'" I took another step back before turning and running out of the door. I didn't make it far.

In a second she had grabbed me and hauled me over her shoulder so all I could see was the back end of her lower half.

"Like what you see back there?" Iris giggled

"I.. uh..." I stammered out twisting around in vain to look anywhere else but there.

"P Plutia?" I heard Neptune gasp

"Ah Neppy today is a good day!" Iris giggled again, it was probably the most terrifying sound she's ever made.

"I Is that Thomas?" Neptune asked

"Yeah he's came back to us. Now I'm sure you want some time alone but you can let me go first right?" I felt Iris's hand impact on my butt cheeks and I could barely hold in a yelp

"Woman that is not a reason to spank me!"

"W What are you going to do with him?"

"Oh you know.. This and that. Show him how much I missed him~" Another smack came from her.

"Hey stop that!"

"H How much you missed him? P Plutia this is a Teen story you can't show that!"

"Oh? Planning on stopping me Neppy?"

"N No.. just don't break him?"

"No promises~"

"Neptune save me please!"

With a sharp turn Iris started walking back into the room with me over her shoulder. Looking up I could see a rather scared, and somewhat jealous, Neptune looking on before the door closed and I was deposited on my bed. Iris straddling me before I could escape.

"Uh... Hi darling?" I tried to open negotiations between us but it was ineffective.

"Hey sweetheart, look what I got you~" She giggled before pulling something around and dangling it off a finger. A collar. Specifically a black collar with the words "Tom Tom" Imprinted on it.

"You're kidding right?" I watched as she reached forward, making sure to press herself against me as she fastened it around my neck.

"Nope, you're not going to take that off unless you are going into water so I can't loose you again. Nepgear helped me make that so it has a tracker on it and another thing" She purred, looking into my eyes.

"What thing?" I almost immediately regretted asking as her eyes narrowed with what I could only assume was barely contained pleasure.

"This" With a short gesture a lead of energy appeared around one of the chains and ending in her hand. "A special chain for my special man"

"Y ya know I'm going to reiterate what Neptune said: this is a Teen story Plutia you can't show that adult rated stuff here!" I tried but to no avail.

"That isn't going to stop me~" She giggled before leaning in and fastening her lips around mine, the familiar heat coming from her overflowing into my system.


	25. Chapter 25

Two hours later I managed to claw my way out of the room even more exhausted than when I arrived here. Reaching up to the collar I ran my hand along it. Apparently the only time that collar can come off is if Plutia allows it to come off so now it's basically stuck to me.

"So Thomas" I heard Ethan ask and I didn't need to look at him to know he was grinning at my state. "Have a good rest?"

"Yup an amazing rest" I replied sarcastically while I picked myself up "You?"

"Yeah I feel pretty relaxed now" He chuckled "We'd best see Histoire now, if you think you can make it"

"Less sass, more movement" I rolled my eyes before starting off down the hallway.

It didn't take us long to reach the elevator and from there it was only a short trip up before we reached the top of the Basilacom. Ethan teasing me the entire way didn't make it go any quicker.

Entering the main area of the Basilacom I could almost see the memoires I had with this place, from when I first arrived to when Plutia revealed her feelings to me and so forth.

"Ah Thomas!" Histoire called before floating over "Are you feeling rested yet?"

"More or less, but before I forget; Histoire this is Ethan, Ethan this is Histoire." I quickly introduced the two who both greeted each other politely. "So before we start finding out what has happened these last few years let's get comfortable and take a seat first"

Moving over to one of the beanbags I flopped into it with Ethan taking another beanbag and Histoire just sitting on her book.

"So why is Neptune extremely sexy now?" I started off, grinning as Ethan immediately face palmed "And why the land is dead and dying?"

"Well they are linked. After you were removed from this dimension it hit the goddesses hard, resulting in a lot of disarray and so when Arfoire came we were not prepared to fight her. She quickly took control of the people and began gaining power at an extremely fast rate and soon enough we couldn't even risk open combat after she caught Neptune and took her power like she did before. So now Neptune is ageing normally while the other goddesses are struggling to keep their cities from being overwhelmed" Histoire summarized.

"So basically we came in just as it's all going downhill?" Ethan asked

"That is correct" Histoire replied

"Well looks like we have to be the Counter-Strike" I grinned "A Global Offensive!"

"Oh... my god" Ethan face met his hand yet again.

"What's wrong Ethan?" I couldn't help but let the grin widen.

"What is it with you and puns?"

"Hey I'm just so punny!"

"Well know that Vert and Blanc are still holding on but we haven't heard anything from Lastation so we can only assume Arfoire has either taken control or has stopped Noire from leaving." Historie got us back on track "So we must make haste to Lastation as soon as you two are ready"

"True as that is we need weapons" I replied, doing my best to push any negative thoughts on Noire out of my head "I still need to know if I have that link with the girls and Ethan... well he needs some training"

"Hey I can look after myself!"

"When you have a broken bottle in your hand and completely drunk then maybe."

"I never said I was a good fighter"

"Well it would be best to talk to Nepgear about that. D3ath went with Noire to Lastation so it is unlikely she has been beaten yet"

"Well that's good then" breathing a sigh of relief I felt my hand loosen, I guess so that told Historie I was worried.

"And with your link we cannot know for certain until Nepgear also runs some tests" Historie continued "Neptune still has enough power for a shield and a few abilities but she does not get enough shares for advanced abilities and with Arfoire stealing her CPU status she cannot enter HDD mode"

"So looks like we'll be spending a bit of time with Nepgear" I mused "Well we'd best go and meet Nepgear, we have a lot of work to do"

"That you do, she has been working on some of the designs that you had on that tablet so you may find what you need in there" Histoire suggested "I can only assume she felt like it was the right thing to do by completing those designs you handed her"

"Now that is a good plan" I replied getting up from my bean bag "Although this may be a while before we actually can go and help Noire because Ethan will take another three years before we can start with how long it will take Ethan to decide on what he wants"

"Hey it won't take me that long!" Ethan protested getting up.

"Yeah it will" I grinned before turning back to Histoire "Thanks for getting me back here"

"It was the least I could do, I am just sorry we have to ask for your assistance almost immediately" Histoire replied remorsefully

"Hey with everything you girls did for me I think it's only right I help you girls now" I chuckled "Anyway being here is a lot more exciting than back in our old dimension"

Walking with Histoire to the elevator she waited outside as we walked in, she still had a look of remorse on her face but a smile on it as well.

"After you have sorted out what you will be bringing with you may you please return to the Basilacom, I will need to talk to you about more important details of your journey" Histoire glanced at Ethan before back to me, obviously she wanted to talk to me alone and I gave a short nod, conveying that I understood the hidden message.

The elevator doors closed, automatically me and Ethan settled against opposite walls as it began its descent. Ethan had a thoughtful look on his face which often was broken by a sudden look of annoyance before returning to its thoughtful state once again.

"Still stuck thinking what kind of weapon you want?" I chuckled as my voice startled him from his thought process,

"Yeah It's difficult, I can't decide if I want to go Devil May Cry or Warhammer as a Death Jester" Ethan replied chuckling,

"Devil May Cry as in Dante?"

"No No No, like Vergil. I got to play Devil May Cry 4 as him and well... I liked it more"

"Well that must suck considering at the start of this story you were dressed like Dante"

"What? I had never heard of Vergil till then"

"Well I doubt we'll be able to make a dimension cutting katana"

"I'm sure I can adapt, so how about yourself?"

"Well I won't be tanking anything so I might as well work how the White Wolf does"

"Wait... You don't mean?"

"That's a secret Ethan don't spoil it for the readers!"

Soon enough the doors opened and we piled out and almost immediately found Nepgear and Neptune relaxing with Foxie sat close by. Upon spotting us he let out a sharp bark causing the two of them to scramble up; Neptune already formed a katana and looking around wildly before she spotted us and relaxed.

"Well there goes our stealthy entrance" I joked as we walked over "If only Foxie hadn't warned you I could have scared you both awake myself.

Neptune, the mature woman she is, stuck her tongue out at that remark and proceeded to lean against a table close by. Nepgear on the other hand simply smiled at the joke.

"So ladies Ethan and I have come down to ask for your assistance" I started before Ethan cut in,

"Alright to stop Thomas sounding all dramatic we need your help with weapons and armour" Ethan grinned as I shot him a dark look.

"Weapons? You two just got here; is it wise to just suddenly go off into battle?" Nepgear asked, worry in her voice.

"Not yet, but I know I can't exactly sit here long while Noire and the others are in trouble" I replied

"Well thankfully Nepgear has made a few things from that tablet you gave her a while ago" Neptune chimed in "I can take you to them"

"Neptune the set isn't fully ready yet and I had some new ideas!" Nepgear whined

"Sure I'll see what you've made" I agreed before Nepgear could try and stop me. "Sorry Gear but my interest is peaked so now I have to see"

"I guess I'll stay down here then" Ethan chuckled "If I may take some of your time I have a few ideas I could share with you?"

"Be careful with him Gear he's a creepy one" I warned jokingly

"OI!" Ethan growled causing Nepgear to take a half step back at his sudden change

"You know that was a joke chill" I replied "Nepgear what I said was a joke Ethan is nice, just give him time to speak out his ideas okay?"

"Of course!" Nepgear replied with a smile and a nod, her eyes were already sparkling at the thought of new ideas and designs.

"Well I'll see you soon then Ethan when I've seen the stuff Neptune is about to show me"

"Alright well don't advance your relationship too much now"

"Hey no promises"

With a short cough from Neptune, who was blushing, and a tug at my arm we left back towards the elevator. Apparently Neptune decided to store the stuff Nepgear made in her room so once again we went back upwards. It was considerably awkward going upwards but eventually the blush disappeared from her face and we reached the floor where everyone stayed.

"So how did things go with Plutia? From how you look I can guess it went rough?" Neptune joked while flashing me a grin

"That would be the understatement of the year" I grumbled "She's slapped some form of collar round my neck and apparently only she can take it off"

"That sounds kinky"

"That is because it is kinky!

"Well it looks like a good fit"

"How would you know?"

"No reason..."

"Neptune..."

"Hey look we're here at my room"

"Neptune you don't get to just leave this topic that easily!"

"Going in now!"

With a shove she pushed me inside and stumbling forward I managed to avoid crashing into the edge of her bed, looking around I took in the room. It was a pretty stereotypical gamer girl room, games scattered everywhere and stuffed toys in a pile on the bed, a wardrobe occupied one corner and the bed the opposite one; against one of the walls hung a large TV but it had a fine layer of dust over it showing it hadn't been cleaned in a while.

"Sorry for the mess" Neptune spoke up absently as she made her way across the room towards the wardrobe, she didn't seem at all fazed about the mess.

"It's fine I guess" I replied, carefully picking my way around the room to avoid standing on anything that could break or get me into trouble. Now I understand why my mother used to tell me to clean up my room.

Looking up from my careful movement I could see Neptune had already opened the wardrobe and had pulled out a large box, which had wrapping paper all over it and a stereotypical bow on top of the box.

"What's that?" I asked confused and curious

"A present" She replied simply, holding it defensively to her chest as she moved over to the bed. "Sit down we can open it here"

"Okay" I shrugged and sat down beside her, the bed was soft and surprisingly bouncy compared to some of the other beds. After an awkward moment she pushed it onto my lap and struggled to find something to look at beside me.

"Well welcome back" She mumbled, finally meeting my eyes "I really missed you"

"I missed you too Neptune" I replied in a similar embarrassed tone and held her hand; giving it a soft squeeze.

We weren't exactly used to these cute and close couple moments really. Yeah we were committed to each other but we were two goofballs who spent more time playing jokes on each other and others to vocally say our feelings, actions speak louder than words you could say.

Anyway with the romantic moment out of the way I looked down at the box and debated whether I should give it an experimental shake or not, shrugging I began lightly pulling at the ribbons to keep the bow intact before starting on the wrapping paper. Neptune made the odd joke but kept relatively quiet throughout the unwrapping process.

Soon enough I was left with a simple brown box with the words "So when can we have that dance?" written across it in purple; looking up at Neptune she began awkwardly whistling and paying sudden interest in the clouds outside the window.

Pulling off the lid I looked down at the contents and felt a lump well in my throat slightly. Inside the box sat an almost exact replica of Jet Stream Sam's sword from what I used before. Pulling it out I gently pulled the blade out and was surprised when there was no physical blade but instead what looked like a hard light blade; its violet blade not reflecting the light as I looked at it closely.

"Neptune I don't know what to say..." I started before she chuckled

"There is more to it than just a blade but we need more space so let's head down what's left of the training area" Neptune replied getting up, after sheathing the katana and getting up I followed her to the elevator.

The elevator ride down was a lot less awkward than when we went up, that may be because we spent the time hugging and generally enjoying the pleasant air between us but hey I am not complaining.

Soon enough we had reached the ground floor and into the training area and Neptune had not lied about the state it was in. Rubble littered the area and some of the walls had giant holes in them, combining that with the dead grass and trees in the area it was clear to see a major fight occurred here and I can only assume this is where Neptune lost.

Pulling out the blade I gently let the sheath settle on the ground before I started giving it some practise swings, it felt perfect. The balance was perfect and the blade's length was at the optimal reach so it wasn't too long or too short. Soon enough I was getting back into the swing of things (Pun intended) and everything felt natural again.

"Seems like you're back in business" Neptune chuckled, she was holding what looked like a belt.

Walking over she helped put the belt around my wait and surprisingly the sheath automatically attached to it without needing me to attach it myself.

"Its a magnetic lock" She explained "It's something Nepgear made to go with this so instead of having to wear something specific you can wear anything you like"

"Now that is going to be really useful" I nodded.

"Now try rotating the hilt, we incorporated a system I call 'revving' it'll allow you to do some special moves"

"Did you just take time to explain special moves to me?" I looked at her with an eyebrow raised

"Just get on with it" She prodded my cheek with a finger.

Shrugging I gripped the hilt and gave it a twist, sure enough the hilt twisted before returning back to its initial state, looking down at the sheath I noticed previously closed vents had opened slightly.

"So the first rev will get you a simple power boost when you swing it out of the sheath" Neptune explained, miming pulling it out in a slash.

Doing that it felt like a less powerful version of what it used to do before, firing out with a hiss, the vents ejecting some steam before closing again. Taking the initiative I returned the katana back into the sheath before giving it two twists, the vents gave a louder growl and opened even further.

"Two will result in excess energy being stored in the blade, this then can be launched outward" Neptune explained again,

Gripping the sheath and katana tightly I pulled it out and a large slash of energy shot forward before colliding with the wall at the far end causing a small crater to form in the wall, the vents let out more steam once more before closing again.

After returning it the blade to its scabbard once more I gave it three twists and almost let out a shout in surprise and as the sword full on growled at me, sounding more like a wolf than a vent or a sword.

"Uh why did you do that?" Neptune stepped backwards slightly looking at the growling sheath.

"What do I do!?" I almost shouted back

"I don't know Nepgear never told me!"

In a panic I pulled at the blade and the sword launched out like it used to before when the trigger was pulled, the blade seemed longer and almost immediately after it started it stopped; the blade was normal, the sheath was no longer growling but steam was venting out, leaving a cloud of mist at my feet.

"We need to talk to Nepgear about this" I somehow had kept a hold of the katana during the swing so I gently returned it to its sheathe.

"Well there is another mode for this weapon still" Neptune replied quietly, making a circle in the ground with her foot.

"Why do you sound so apprehensive about this?"

"Well... this mode was actually my idea, I thought maybe you would want something a little more than what you have at the moment" Neptune grinned, spreading her arms outwards.

"So do you want to tell me how to activate this super secret mode then?"

"Maybe"

"Maybe?"

"Depends"

"On what?"

"Not going to say"

"What the- Neptune!"

"I'm kidding!"

"So?"

"Well first pull the blade out, then press two buttons located on the top of the sheath and the bottom of the hilt"

Following her instructions I found the buttons and pressed them, the hard light blade disappeared leaving just a hilt and guard.

"Now place it on top of the sheath, you may want to hold the sheath for this."

Raising an eyebrow I pulled the sheath off its magnetic lock and held it out in front of me, looking at the top what looks two small pillars had extended upwards with two holes on the opposite side; similar pillars and holes had appeared on the hilt so shrugging I lined them up and fitted it on top of the sheath. Almost immediately the hilt locked up and the sounds of gears turning at a fast rate could be heard from within before the hilt itself extended, one side going forward slight before ending at a spike while the other extended forward before slowly curving downwards; the sheath began extending as well.

When all the extensions were finished it had the look of a scythe, the blade then being coated in the same hard light as before, giving off a low humming sound.

"Holy... Neptune you have out done yourself" Gazing at the scythe I noticed something carved onto the new grip. WolfFang

"WolfFang huh?" I raised an eyebrow to it

"Well I thought that as Foxie is a fox you could be a wolf..." Neptune once again fell back to slowly drawing circles in the ground again.

"So I can guess the wolfish sounds aren't just for artistic description then?"

"No..."

"Well thank you, anyway how would I turn it off from this mode then?"

"Well there should be another button on where the sheath is which will begin rewinding the process so you'll need to grab the hilt before it falls off the katana before it hits the ground"

"Oh right"

Pressing the button the sheath quickly retracted inwards and I barely had time to put my hand around the hilt before it detached itself. Returning the hilt to the now normal sheath I turned and embraced Neptune resulting in "Nepu!?" before she relaxed and hugged me back.

"You're the best you know that?" I grinned

"I am the main character~" Neptune grinned back "Now then, we should really start getting ready. We do need to save Lonely Heart at some point"

"That would be a good idea" I chuckled taking a step back but still holding her hand "Nepgear also mentioned something about a set so it would be a good idea to collect all of that first"

So with that we turned back and went inside the Basilacom. I've barely been back one day and things have become very interesting.


	26. Chapter 26

Arriving back to Nepgear's workshop it was oddly quiet, not completely silent but quieter than normal, a generator was humming from somewhere while Foxie's vanguard body stood tall and proud. Now that I wasn't being held by it I could see the girls had added a power symbol onto the side of its chassis, it was a nice touch to add a bit more character to the already huge death machine.

Nepgear stood at a small workstation close to the foot of the titan with her back facing us, as we approached I could faintly hear her humming a faint tune to herself as she worked on something. She heard our footsteps and turned around; a wide smile spreading across her face when she saw us both with Wolf Fang at my side.

"Ah welcome back!" She grinned and walked over to us,

"Heya Gear, I cannot thank you enough for this new weapon" I patted her head as I spoke resulting in a jealous "Hey!" From Neptune.

"I'm glad you like it, it took us a while to just decide on the first form before we thought of making another form as well" She hummed before she looked at it with a bit of worry in her eyes "Were there any mistakes or problems?"

"Not really any problems per say but there was something we were both surprised about..." I trailed off, remembering how the blade had gotten bigger, who knows how much stronger that could of made it. "We, as in I, twisted the hilt three times by accident. The weapon went absolutely berserk but when I swung the sword the blade was bigger"

Nepgear was quiet for a moment before she gently pulled the blade off my hip and immediately turned back to the workstation and began doing... things. With her back to us we couldn't see what was going on and honestly with the amount of sparks and weird sounds coming from her working on it I was too scared to move forward to check on what she was doing. Eventually she turned back with the blade and held it out.

"So yeah uh apparently a idea I hadn't meant to put in the blade was there... heh... well I've done a few edits to the weapon to properly incorporate the Exceed function so now we shouldn't have any risks of it exploding" She laughed awkwardly as I picked up the blade before what she said fully hit me

"Wait explode?"

"Anyway you came at a good time I just finished the second part of the set!"

"No no no you said it could explode"

"Come over I'll show you what I was working on"

Without a single regard to my complaints or if we were following her (Neptune flicked the back of my ear to get me moving) she stepped to the side when she reached the table and waved a hand towards the table revealing what lay on it. A large pistol lay on it, the sleek black metal parts contrasted with the silver underneath. On the side close to the barrel a gold skull with a single wing was etched onto it.

"This design was labelled as critical inside the tablet" Neptune explained as I picked up the firearm "There were a few notes about other designs linked to it but they weren't as critical as the pistol"

"I can understand somewhat.. but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this isn't as powerful as what it is actually based upon right?"

"Well... yeah you're right on that fact. But at the same time wrong"

"Uh... care to explain for myself and the readers?"

"The weapon can link with one of the designs we had sent to Lastation which will increase the pistols power"

"Oh. So you've somehow made an adaptive absolver bolt pistol... "What is the design at Lastation?"

"We've sent designs for a-"

Before Nepgear could finish the doors to the elevator opened and out came Histoire who once she spotted us hurried over.

"Ah I knew I'd find you here" Histoire greeted us, although for some reason she looked... stressed "You need to get moving to Lastation immediately, I received a broken up message from them and it seems like the siege is beginning to ramp up. Annonydeath seems to be intent on taking Lastation and if this keeps up he will take it over in a couple days"

If there was ever a moment to hear a pin hitting the floor it would of been then. Everyone was shocked by the sudden news that no-one knew what to say.

"Where is Foxie?" I asked looking around for the mechanical hound.

"He's on his way back already, he was out patrolling the area when we got the message"

"How long?"

"It'll be thirty minutes before he is back so if you have anything that needs doing before that you need to do it now"

With a curt nod I turned back to Nepgear "Nepgear do you have a holster for this pistol?"

"I'll get started on it now, its almost done so it'll be done by the time you got to go"

"You aren't coming?"

"I have too much to work on and someone has to make sure the Basilacom stays safe"

"Alright what about you Neptune?"

"I'll be coming with you, I'll help out getting everything together"

"Alright perfect, I'll go get Plutia"

With that we all went our separate ways, Histoire and myself getting into the elevator while Nepgear moved over and began working on the holster and Neptune went and did her thing. The elevator ride was silent until I got off.

"Thomas, if I don't see you before you go" Histoire called over stopping me from shooting off "Good luck, I know with the others you can save Noire and help us in this dark time"

"Thank you Histoire, keep Nepgear safe while we're gone okay?" I replied with a smile

She smiled in return and nodded as the doors closed. With that I continued on, it didn't take me too long to reach the room Plutia was last in. Opening the door I found her sitting on the bed, it looks like she just woke up from another nap.

"Hi Tom Tom" She smiled sweetly

"Heya Plutia, we are going to be moving to help Noire soon. Are you coming with us?"

"Suure, I haven't seen Noire in a while" She clambered off the bed and came over for a hug, which I gave her. "Where will everyone be meeting?"

"We're going to be meeting down in the hanger, we'll be getting Foxie to carry us over as we gotta get there quickly... also you know we are going to save Noire right?"

"Yeahh but I haven't seen her in a while still" Plutia grinned "Walk with me?"

"If you give me a moment I'll be ready to walk down with you."

Moving past her (resulting in a rather cute sound of disapproval as I stopped hugging her) reaching the closet I looked inside and sure enough the same trench coat from before was hung up. Quickly removing my hoodie I picked up the coat and put it on before returning back to Plutia and holding out an arm for her to grab.

"Shall we go my lady?" I asked in a fake posh accent causing her to giggle before she held onto my arm

"Let's go~" she grinned and we began making our way back to the elevator.

Looking out of the window gave me a fresh reminder how badly Planeptune had suffered, buildings while not always having obvious damage like broken windows or holes in them; all of them seemed devoid of life or the same colour as before. The grass was dying, nearly every patch of grass I could see was brown or even black while trees, if they were still standing, had no leaves and the bark had a sickly colour to it.

Only a few birds were around still and even they seemed to be devoid of the usual bright and joyful colours that I saw before. These were black and the sounds they made were anything but happy.

It was heartbreaking, this city, maybe even this whole world has lost its life and colour. All thanks to Arfoire and whatever plan she has. And that isn't going to keep up, she may of gotten rid of me but I'm back and she is going to wish she had used a more permanent solution.

"Dude I know the world has gone to hell but you don't need to be so edgy about it" The author whispered

Rolling my eyes at his comment I began pondering if I was actually becoming one of those edgy anime protagonists but before I could begin to ponder it too much we had gotten off the elevator and already reached the workshop. Guess the elevator didn't want me to brood too much.

The time before we were ready to go passed by in a blur, between getting passed between people for hugs and helping Nepgear make sure the holster fit perfectly I was kept busy.

"So how does it feel?" Nepgear asked as I twirled the bolt pistol around and holstered it, feeling like both a cowboy and Han Solo at the same time.

"Perfect, no need to make anymore edits hopefully" I chuckled, quickly pulling the pistol out and putting it back in again.

"Excellent, well now we have to finally do the check if your bond with Neptune and Noire still holds and how strong it is if it does" She replied, turning and beginning to go through the contents of a few boxes

"What are you looking for? Before you used a big machine with needles?"

"Well yes we did have that before but during Neptune's fight with Arfoire it got destroyed so I have had to remake it but this time smaller and easier to use"

She eventually found what she was looking for and stood back up holding out what looks like a scanner. Only difference was the needle underneath the screen. A needle she was pointing at me. Like a gun.

"Uh.. Nepgear?" I asked worriedly, backing up a few paces.

"Now just let me get a small sample of your blood, it won't hurt much I promise" The mad scientist began giggling as she began her approach.

So began the chase, starting off with me backpedalling while she slowly advanced before it turned into a full sprint. A sprint that was interlaced with having to vault over boxes and rails due to how cluttered the place was at times. Then the chase had someone else involved, Neptune thought we were chasing me because it was some game, a game in which she would win something if she caught me. Now I never told her this and neither did Nepgear.

So now I was running from Nepgear and Neptune.

We had managed to go around the entire workshop a couple times with Plutia clapping slowly and giggling at the whole affair before they caught me. Neptune had made a heroic leap and managed to wrap her arms around my waist slowing me down when Nepgear jumped on me as well pushing me onto the floor. A sharp pain came from my arm while I faintly heard Neptune calling out that she won the game.

Eventually I was able to get up, Nepgear having finally gotten off me after understanding that she can continue researching without sitting on my back and Neptune was pried off my waist. A few moments after I had stood up Nepgear had finished her research.

"Well I have good news and bad news" She started with "Good news is that you do still have that bond, while mainly being with Noire with only traces of Neptune's but it is still there. Bad news is that any power from this bond is going to be at best a small shield that'll let you resist a few hits"

"And at worst?" I asked fearing the answer

"It won't be dedicated to defence at all and you will need to get to Lastation and hope Noire managed to get the designs completed"

"So what is the design?"

"Well its a-"

But before she could finish speaking Foxie came bounding in coming to a screeching stop in front of me. The sound of his claws scratching against the metal floor drowning out what she said. I was tempted to ask her again but it seems like the universe, or it's the author being a dick, doesn't want me to know.

"It is time" He said ominously

"To duel?" I replied, I'm pretty sure I could hear Ethan face palming at that.

With a few quick jumps the mechanical wolf was on top of the titan and seemingly connected with it, causing the "eyes" of the titan to flash brighter and look down at everyone.

"Pilot please embark with miss Neptune and Plutia" The titan's voice send a shiver down my spine as memories of our first meeting passed over me.

Reaching down he opened a palm and I got on immediately with Neptune and Plutia getting on board as well. Nepgear looked at us with worry but she managed to stay silent and wave as Foxie picked us up, placed us on top of him and took a few steps forward towards the remains of the door before stopping.

"Miss Nepgear I request the predator cannon for use" He asked politely, within a few moments a mechanical arm came down shakily from the ceiling and attached the predator cannon to Foxie's back within easy grabbing distance. With Foxie armed and ready he turned back to face Nepgear.

"Good luck Big sister! Good luck Plutia! Good luck Thomas!" Nepgear called out waving "I'll tell Ethan you've gone on ahead and he'll meet up with you later!"

All of us waved a goodbye before Foxie turned back around and moved out of the workshop and then began moving towards Lastation at a decent pace that didn't cause too much discomfort with us sitting on top. We had a siege to break, a CPU to save and hopefully it'll go so well we'll be done before anyone gets too badly hurt.


End file.
